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Investigating implicit-explicit concordance can aid in understanding underlying mechanisms and possible intervention effects. This research examined the concordance between implicit associations of exercise with health or appearance and related explicit motives. Variables considered as possible moderators were behavioral regulations, explicit attitudes, and social desirability. Participants (N = 454) completed measures of implicit associations of exercise with health and appearance and questionnaire measures of health and appearance motives, attitudes, social desirability, and behavioral regulations. Attitudes significantly moderated the relationship between implicit associations of exercise with health and health motives. Identified regulations significantly moderated implicit-explicit concordance with respect to associations with appearance. These results suggest that implicit and explicit exercise-related cognitions are not necessarily independent and their relationship to each other may be moderated by attitudes or some forms of behavioral regulation. Future research that takes a dual-processing approach to exercise behavior should consider potential theoretical moderators of concordance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to examine if reading exercise information targeted at pretest explicit attitudes were related to changes in corresponding implicit or explicit attitudes. The associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model guided the research. Participants ( N = 154) completed pretest measures of implicit and explicit attitudes; one week later they read information that targeted pretest explicit affective or instrumental attitudes and again completed the attitude measures. Results showed changes in implicit attitudes in both instrumental message conditions that supported the hypotheses that counter-attitudinal information would result in implicit attitude change in the opposite direction to the reading whereas information that targeted congruent attitudes would show changes in keeping with the information. This study demonstrates the importance of considering how implicit cognitions may change as a result of reading exercise-related information, and the relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND The aims of this study were to examine the relationships among physical activity (PA)-related beliefs and to determine to what extent Iranian adolescents in different stages of PA adoption differ in perceived benefits and barriers during a 3-year transition from junior high school to high school. METHODS Data were collected from female adolescents in 2010 (N = 558), of whom 412 provided follow-up data in 2013. One-way analysis of variance and logistic regression were conducted for statistical analysis. RESULTS Participants in the action and maintenance stages reported the greatest agreement with benefits. Pre-contemplators were about 4 times more likely to cite 'not enough time' than preparers ( OR = 3.95). Pre-contemplators were over 4 times more likely to cite not liking exercise than those in action and maintenance stages at baseline ( OR = 4.32 and 4.85), a finding which was maintained at follow-up ( OR = 3.66 and 8.65). CONCLUSIONS These findings could help with the creation of interventions tailored to encourage pre-contemplators to progress toward adoption of PA. Providing transportation supports, enhancing time management, and mitigating boredom may be helpful strategies either to prevent relapse in adoption stages or to move females in early stages of change toward action and maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential benefits of workplace wellness programs are limited by low participation rates of employees, which could be due in part to ineffective persuasion by program providers. This study uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model, as a guiding theory in mixed methods research, to investigate feedback messages about physical activity delivered in a workplace wellness program. This study uses questionnaire and interview data from 32 employees to determine if personally relevant health messages are associated with either positive or negative responses to the messages and subsequent attitude change. General feedback is more appreciated by those who are less fit but are not effective in changing attitudes toward physical activity. Individually targeted messages result in a significant positive attitude change for participants responding positively to the messages. This suggests that individualized health promotion messages provide a stronger argument for individuals, thus increasing the likelihood of attitude change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The public sector uses health as the primary motivator in physical activity campaigns whereas the private sector often uses appearance as a motivator, but whether these motivators can be successful in changing physical activity behavior remains to be determined. The purpose of this research was to test the effects of televised health promotion and appearance-based exercise advertising on exercise attitudes, social physique anxiety, and self-presentation, Participants completed pretest questionnaires one week prior to viewing a video that contained health or appearance exercise advertising. They then completed posttest questionnaires. Results showed mat health-based advertising had significant positive effects on social physique anxiety and self-presentation for exercisers in the health condition, while appearance-based advertising had negative effects on no exercisers' attitudes towards exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effects of a self-affirmation intervention in conjunction with message frame on attentional bias toward physical activity messages, and explicit psychological and behavioral responses to these messages. Inactive participants (N = 153) completed either a self-affirmation or a control task, were told they were not active enough for health benefits, then read either a gain or loss-framed message, followed by an attentional bias task and questionnaires measuring message processing, psychological reactions and behavior. One week later, participants completed an on-line measure of physical activity. Message frame did not moderate the self-affirmation effect. Self-affirmed participants reported slightly higher self-efficacy for exercising in the future and slightly lower, but not significant, perceived threat than participants in the control group. Self-affirmation and messages may need to be further supplemented with more intense interventions accompanied with adequate resources to facilitate intentions for and actual behavioral change for a complex behavior like physical activity. • Self-affirmation did not influence attentional bias to health threat words. • Gain and loss frame messages did not differentially influence message response. • Self-affirmation leads to higher self-efficacy than no affirmation. • Neither self-affirmation nor message frame influenced physical activity behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]