An Attributional Perspective on African American Adults' Exercise Behavior1

The present study examined attributional patterns for successful and unsuccessful exercise behavior change in a sample of African American adults. Subjects typically reported the primary causes of successful exercise change to be of a motivational and personal nature, whereas attributions for unsuccessful change were primarily concerned with time management. Multivariate analyses indicated successes being attributed to internal, stable, and personally controllable causes, and failures to internal, unstable, and personally controllable causes. Stable attributions in the successful group were significantly correlated with expectations for continued maintenance, and unstable attributions were significantly related with expectations for future behavior change in the unsuccessful group. The findings are discussed with respect to attributional approaches to improving exercise and health behavior change.     

Self-Efficacy,Perceptions of Success,and Intrinsic Motivation for Exercise1

A number of investigators have attempted to identify the determinants of continued participation in exercise regimens. Within a social cognitive framework, the present study examined the relationships among self-efficacy cognitions, perceptions of success, and multidimensional intrinsic motivation in the exercise domain. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that highly efficacious individuals were more intrinsically motivated toward aerobic dance than were their less efficacious counterparts. However, multiple regression analyses revealed both perceptions of success and self-efficacy to account for significant variance in intrinsic motivation at both the composite and dimensional levels. Moreover, perceptions of success were considerably stronger predictors than were efficacy cognitions. The results are discussed in terms of the need for multiple measures of perceived success, the employment of longitudinal designs to determine the direction of causality among these variables, and possible implications for adherence issues.     

Time judgments in global temporal contexts

With three experiments, we examined the effects of global temporal context on time judgments as gauged by constant errors (CEs) and estimates of a preferred period (P). In Experiment 1, participants in seven different conditions listened to sequences of a given rate (with interonset intervals ranging from 200 to 800 msec) and judged the relative duration of a final (comparison) time interval. No P emerged. In Experiments 2 and 3, we embedded the same rates in different global (session) contexts that varied according to (1) mean session rate, (2) standard deviation, (3) range, and (4) number of different rates in a session. Evidence from CEs indicated that P varied primarily as a function of mean session rate and range of tempi. The best predictor of errors involved a measure termed relative range (RR = range/mean session rate). A general algorithm incorporating RR successfully predicts P, and the implications of this algorithm are discussed.     

Evaluation of the factor structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in older adults

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is the most utilized measure of global self-esteem. Although psychometric studies have generally supported the uni-dimensionality of this 10-item scale, more recently, a stable, response-bias has been associated with the wording of the items (Marsh, Scalas, & Nagengast, 2010). The purpose of this report was to replicate Marsh et al.’s findings in a sample of older adults and to test for invariance across time, gender and levels of education. Our results indicated that indeed a response-bias does exist in esteem responses. Researchers should investigate ways to meaningfully examine and practically overcome the methodological challenges associated with the RSE scale.     

Exercise environment,self-efficacy,and affective responses to acute exercise in older adults

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that regular physical activity can have considerable psychological, as well as physical, benefits in the elderly. Although factors such as exercise dosage may be implicated in exercise-induced affect responses, it has also been suggested that social and psychological factors might influence this relationship. This study examined the roles played by exercise environment (group versus alone) and self-efficacy in affective change in 80 older adults (M age = 66 yrs) over the course of three acute exercise bouts. Using latent growth curve methodology and statistically controlling for duration and intensity of exercise, we were able to demonstrate that social (group) environments resulted in statistically significant improvements in feeling state responses when contrasted with a condition in which the participants exercised alone. In addition, increases in self-efficacy were associated with more positive and less negative feeling states. Environmental factors that might influence the exercise-affect response are discussed and recommendations for subsequent exercise, efficacy, affect research made.     

Factors Influencing Level of Stress During the Nursing Home Decision Process

This investigation examined whether characteristics of elders and their caregivers and facets of the nursing home decision-making context were associated with recalled levels of stress during nursing home decision-making. Employing a conceptual framework based upon the literature on caregiver stress and nursing home decision-making, we considered a number of factors that might influence sponsors' stress as decisions were being made about nursing home placements. We examined data from telephone interviews with a sample of 142 sponsors (responsible parties) of first-time, recently admitted nursing home residents. Higher levels of reported stress were directly associated with more factors triggering the decision to admit, higher levels of competing demands, and limited time. Employment was indirectly related to higher stress through its impact on demands. Hospitalization and being the spouse or an adult child of the resident were indirectly related to stress because they were associated with limited available time. The results offer some insights into the types of individuals who may be vulnerable to higher levels of stress and the kinds of interventions that might avert high stress in the nursing home decision process.     

Long-term follow-up of physical activity behavior in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the contribution of social-cognitive factors (self-efficacy and affect) in predicting long-term physical activity in a sample of older adults (N=174). DESIGN: A prospective design assessed physical activity and psychosocial variables at 2 and 5 years following a 6-month randomized, controlled exercise trial. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome variable was self-reported physical activity, with previous behavior, self-efficacy, and affect assessed as determinants of physical activity. RESULTS: Covariance modeling analyses indicated that physical activity at Year 2 was the strongest predictor of physical activity at 5-year follow-up. Both self-efficacy and affect at Year 2 were also associated with physical activity at Year 5, as was original treatment condition. Variables accounted for 35% of the variance in Year 5 activity. CONCLUSION: Older adults with higher levels of physical activity, more positive affect, and higher self-efficacy at Year 2 were more likely to continue to be active at Year 5. This study is one of the longest follow-ups of exercise behavior in older adults and has implications for structuring environments to maximize the maintenance of physical activity.     

Effects of change in fatigue and depression on physical activity over time in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

This prospective, observational study examined the effects of change in the symptoms of fatigue and depression on physical activity over time in persons with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Adults with a confirmed diagnosis of RRMS completed a battery of questionnaires at baseline (n = 269) and six-month follow-up (n = 263). The data were analyzed using linear panel analysis and covariance modeling in Mplus 3.0. The panel model fit the data (χ(2) = 24.00, df = 15, p = 0.07, SRMR = 0.04, CFI = 0.98) and demonstrated that changes in both fatigue (path coefficient = -0.09) and depressive symptoms (path coefficient = -0.12) were significantly associated with residual change in physical activity. Such findings support the importance of fatigue and depression for predicting longitudinal changes in physical activity in adults with RRMS.     

Modeling effects of rhythmic context on perceived duration: a comparison of interval and entrainment approaches to short-interval timing

Relative merits of interval and entrainment conceptions of the internal clock were assessed within a common theoretical framework by 4 time-judgment experiments. The timing of tone onsets marking the beginning and ending of standard and comparison time intervals relative to a context rhythm were manipulated: onsets were on time, early, or late relative to the implied rhythm, and 2 distinct accuracy patterns emerged. A quadratic ending profile indicated best performance when the standard ended on time and worst performance when it was early or late, whereas a flat beginning profile (Experiments 1-3) indicated uniform performance for the 3 expectancy conditions. Only in Experiment 4, in which deviations from expected onset times were large, did significant effects of beginning times appear in time-discrimination thresholds and points of subjective equality. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical assumptions about clock resetting, the representation of time, and independence of successive time intervals.