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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on the performance and learning of a balance task in men. Before practice, forty-eight participants received instructions involving the comparison of balance between males and females: males normally perform worse than females (stereotype threat condition - ST), females usually perform worse than males (stereotype lift condition - SL), or no instructions regarding gender stereotypes (control condition). One day later, they performed a retention test. The results show that the SL group outperformed the other groups during practice, but not retention. ST participants reported lower perceived competence. The findings show that gender stereotypes can affect perceptions of competence and balance performance, but not balance learning, in men.

International audience; The replication crisis in psychology has led to question popular phenomena such as ego depletion, which has been criticized after studies failed to replicate. Here, we describe limitations in the literature that contributed to these failures and suggest how they may be addressed. At the theoretical level, the literature focuses on two out of at least eight identified auxiliary hypotheses. Thus, the majority of the hypotheses related to the three core assumptions of the ego-depletion theory have been overlooked, thereby preventing the rejection of the theory as a whole. At the experimental level, we argue that the low replicability of ego-depletion studies could be explained by the absence of a comprehensive, integrative, and falsifiable definition of self-control, which is central to the concept of ego depletion; by an unclear or absent distinction between ego depletion and mental fatigue, two phenomena that rely on different processes; and by the low validity of the tasks used to induce ego depletion. Finally, we make conceptual and methodological suggestions for a more rigorous investigation of ego depletion, discuss the necessity to take into account its dynamic and multicomponent nature, and suggest using the term self-control fatigue instead.

Health in older age is shaped by early-life socioeconomic circumstances (SECs) and sex. However, whether and why these factors interact is unclear. We examined a cultural explanation of this interaction by distinguishing cultural and material aspects of SECs in the context of physical activity—a major determinant of health. We used data from 56,331 adults between 50 and 96 years old from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a 13-year, large-scale, population-based cohort. Confounder-adjusted logistic linear mixed-effects models showed an association between the cultural aspects of early-life SEC disadvantage and physical activity among women, but it was not consistently observed in men. Furthermore, these associations were compensated for only partially by adult-life socioeconomic trajectories. The material aspects of early-life SECs were not associated with adult-life physical activity. These findings highlight the need to distinguish different aspects of SECs because they may relate to health behaviors in diverse ways.

Understanding what predicts behavior change is a hot topic in health psychology, especially with regard to physical activity. While existing research has revealed key factors of physical activity (e.g., reasoned cognitions, automatic processes), it fails to accurately identify those that are specific to the most inactive populations (e.g., older adults, obese individuals, women, people living with chronic disease). In this commentary, we propose to articulate current approaches of health behavior change with the social psychology of stereotypes, based on the observation that inactive groups are often targeted by negative stereotypes. This articulation may allow to better identify the barriers to physical activity that are specific to individuals from the most inactive groups. More particularly, we propose that low self-control resources, indexed by perceived fatigue, and negative self-perceptions may be key factors of physical inactivity in these individuals. This proposition could in turn help to explain why some behavioral change techniques that are efficient in healthy or young adults are inefficient in other individuals.

BackgroundDigital interventions integrating gamification features hold promise to promote physical activity (PA). However, results regarding the effectiveness of this type of intervention are heterogeneous. This study aimed to examine potential moderators of the effectiveness of a gamified intervention in a large-scale sample and in real-life conditions. Specifically, we tested (1) whether a gamified intervention enhanced daily steps during the intervention and follow-up periods compared to baseline, (2) whether this enhancement was higher in participants to the intervention than in nonparticipants, and (3) what participants’ characteristics or intervention parameters moderated the effect of the program.MethodsData from 4812 individuals who registered for a Kiplin program between January 1st, 2019, and January 2nd, 2022 were analyzed. PA was assessed via the daily step count of participants. Exposure to the intervention, the intervention content, and participants’ characteristics were included in multilevel models to test the study objectives.ResultsCompared with nonparticipants, participants who benefited from the intervention had a significantly greater increase in mean daily steps from baseline during the same period (b= 0.55,p7500 baseline daily steps had no improvement or significant daily step decreases during the intervention. Age (b= 0.05,pb= 0.37,pDiscussionThe Kiplin gamified intervention was effective to improve PA during intervention and follow-up periods in comparison to baseline daily step count and to nonparticipants. Responses to the intervention significantly differed as a function of individuals’ initial PA. The engagement with the service and the age of the participants positively moderated the intervention effect. This study confirms the effectiveness of gamified interventions to promote PA in real-life.Data, code & supplemental materialshttps://osf.io/scnu7/

Intervention science faces a hazardous paradox: on the one hand, vulnerable populations (eg, patients, people from low socioeconomic background, older adults) are those for whom adoption of healthy behaviors is most urgent; on the other hand, behavior change models are less predictive, and interventions less successful, in these populations. This commentary presents 4 reasons that may explain this issue: (1) research mostly focuses on what causes behavior and how to change it, at the expense of investigating among whom and under what conditions models are valid; (2) models put an undue emphasis on individual cognitions; (3) most studies are not conducted on vulnerable populations; and (4) most researchers are from high-income countries. Several avenues are proposed to address this issue: (1) providing a central place to the context and audience in health behavior change modelization, through collaborations with researchers from other disciplines and countries, and with members of the targeted audience; (2) better reporting samples’ sociodemographic characteristics and increasing samples’ diversity; and (3) using more rigorous and innovative designs (eg, powered randomized controlled trials, N-of-1 trials, intensive longitudinal studies). In conclusion, it becomes urgent to change the way we do research: the social utility and credibility of intervention science depend on it.

Health behaviours change is a major challenge to prevent premature deaths, such as those caused by physical inactivity and unhealthy diet behaviours. However, health-behaviours change interventions have shown modest or no efficiency across studies and meta-analyses. This finding is likely the consequence of a common feature of the main theoretical frameworks that (i) focus mainly on motivational forces facilitating the new targeted health behaviours, and (ii) omit the motivational forces that prevent the competing unhealthy behaviours. They also overlooked the motivational forces preventing the targeted health behaviours and those facilitating the competing unhealthy behaviours. We therefore argue in favour of (a) a more comprehensive approach of the motivational forces underlying the individual’s health behavioural change; (b) the development of combined interventions, targeting simultaneously the appropriate preventing and facilitating motivational forces, regarding the individual baseline profile; and (c) the consideration of the motivational conflicts resulting from opposing motivational forces, by training people to mobilize the adaptative conflict resolution strategies. Finally, we call for future research and interventions to adopt a new agenda to evaluate and promote health behaviour change by: (i) characterizing baseline individual motivational profiles; (ii) characterizing preferred conflict resolution strategies; (iii) intervening on the appropriate motivational forces and conflict resolution strategies; (iv) evaluating the intervention’s efficiency.

Despite the accumulation of scientific evidence supporting the benefits of physical activity, the general population remains insufficiently active and this situation is even worsened for some specific populations such as obese people (Barker et al., 2019). It is therefore becoming urgent to develop interventions that can effectively change individuals' behavior. In this context, “e-health” interventions and gamification appear to be a particularly promising avenue to improve physical activity and reduce attrition rates of current programs. This study protocol aims to present a randomized, two-arm intervention design that will examine the efficacy of a digital intervention based on play and teamwork for an obese sample. Fifty patients will be recruited at the hospital of Clermont-Ferrand, France and randomized into two groups: the experimental group will receive digital supervised sessions of PA in videoconference and a gamification of PA through a mobile app and will be compared to an active control group representing the traditional care program (supervised physical activity three times per week during three months). Informed by the tenets of the social identity approach and built around behavior change techniques, implemented via the principles of gamification, this three-month intervention has the objective to improve physical activity adherence. Objective and self-reported PA, quality of live, physical condition and psychological variables like motivation or perceived discrimination will be assessed before, at the end of the intervention and then at the issue of a 6-month follow up in order to evaluate the long-term effect of the intervention. We make the assumption that the intervention will be efficient by the development of an intrinsic motivation through the process of gamification on the one hand. On the other hand, through the in-group collaboration with other people who share the same stigmatized criteria that will help participants to overcome weight stigmas, acting generally as physical activity barriers. This poster presentation will introduce the conception of the intervention, the experimental design and proposed evaluation of the trial. If the effectiveness of this intervention is confirmed, its implementation in the health circuit could reduce the costs and constraints associated to face-to-face support.

A growing body of research identifies weight stigma as a motivational barrier to physical activity (PA) participation. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to better understand the motivation...

Purpose Developing interventions that target population-specific motivational barriers to promote health behaviours is crucial, especially for older adults who are confronted with negative age stereotypes. This systematic review evaluates randomized and non-randomized field studies that tested the effects of age stereotype-based interventions on health outcomes in adults aged 50 years and over. Methods MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection and PsychINFO were searched to identify articles published up until May 2019. Data were extracted from all articles independently and assessed for risk-of-bias using Cochrane Collaboration tools. Results Ten articles met the inclusion criteria. Health-related outcome measures were identified across three domains: physical, psychological/psychosocial well-being, and quality of life/subjective health, with age stereotypes reported as an additional outcome. Intervention structure varied substantially between studies regarding content, duration, frequency, and length of follow-up. Conclusions Most studies showed that age stereotype-based interventions significantly improved physical function or physical activity as well as self-perceptions of ageing. However, more rigorous studies are needed. Indeed, given the detrimental health effects of age stereotypes, the potential for impact of interventions designed to challenge them is important. Future research should explore the implications of intervening on different stereotype mechanisms, whether intervention effects are comparable across health domains, and whether age stereotype-based interventions are more effective than non-age-specific interventions. PROSPERO Registration CRD42018094006.

This study aims to investigate the fear or failure (FoF) in Brazilian runners of both sex, performance levels and age categories, as well as to verify the relationship between FoF and socioeconomic status (SES). Sample size as composed by 916. Age, sex, body height, body weight, SES, and running pace were self-reported. The Multidimensional Questionnaire of FoF was applied in an online platform. Running pace, and SES were categorized and processed through multivariate analysis and Spearman correlations, with the p-value set at 0.05. Female runners with better performance (2.13 ± 0.74) and younger (2.16 ± 0.80), as a well as male runners with worse performance (2.04 ± 0.69) and older (2.04 ± 0.89) presented the highest values of FoF. Among women, SES was negatively associated with FoF (r = -0.144; p = 0.006), while a positive association between running pace and SES was observed among men (r = 0.290; p 0.001). Non-professional Brazilian runners presented low values of FoF.

IntroductionPhysical inactivity and excessive sedentary behaviours are major preventable causes in both the development and the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Nevertheless, current programmes struggle to engage and sustain physical activity (PA) of patients over long periods of time. To overcome these limitations, the Digital Intervention Promoting Physical Activity among Obese people randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a group-based digital intervention grounded on gamification strategies, enhanced by social features and informed by the tenets of the self-determination theory and the social identity approach.Methods and analysisThis trial is a two-arm parallel RCT testing the effectiveness of the Kiplin digital intervention on obese and patients with T2DM in comparison to the usual supervised PA programme of the University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand, France. A total of 50 patients will be randomised to one of the two interventions and will follow a 3-month programme with a 6-month follow-up postintervention. The primary outcome of the study is the daily step count change between the baseline assessment and the end of the intervention. Accelerometer data, self-reported PA, body composition and physical capacities will also be evaluated. To advance our understanding of complex interventions like gamified and group-based ones, we will explore several psychological mediators relative to motivation, enjoyment, in-group identification or perceived weight stigma. Finally, to assess a potential superior economic efficiency compared with the current treatment, we will conduct a cost–utility analysis between the two conditions. A mixed-model approach will be used to analyse the change in outcomes over time.Ethics and disseminationThe research protocol has been reviewed and approved by the Local Human Protection Committee (CPP Ile de France XI, No 21 004-65219). Results will inform the Kiplin app development, be published in scientific journals and disseminated in international conferences.Trial registration numberNCT04887077.

International audience

To assess whether changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour during the COVID-19 lockdown are associated with changes in mental and physical health. Observational longitudinal study. Participants living in France or Switzerland responded to online questionnaires measuring physical activity, physical and mental health, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Paired sample t-tests were used to assess differences in physical activity and sedentary behaviour before and during lockdown. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate associations between changes in physical activity and changes in mental and physical health during lockdown. 267 (wave1) and 110 participants (wave2; 2 weeks later) were recruited. Lockdown resulted in higher time spent in walking and moderate physical activity (~10min/day) and in sedentary behaviour (~75min/day), compared to pre COVID-19. Increased physical activity during leisure time from week 2 to week 4 of lockdown was associated with improved physical health (β=.24, p=.002). Additionally, an increase in sedentary behaviour during leisure time was asso- ciated with poorer physical health (β=−.35, p=.002), mental health (β=−.25, p=.003), and subjective vitality (β=−.30, p=.004). Ensuring sufficient levels of physical activity and reducing sedentary time can play a vital role in helping people to cope with a major stressful event, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical activity is unequally practiced across populations: relative to more privileged individuals, deprived people are less likely to be physically active. However, pathways underlying the association between deprivation and physical activity remain overlooked. Here, we examined whether the association between several indicators of deprivation (administrative area deprivation and self-reported individual material and social deprivation) and physical activity was mediated by body mass index (BMI). In addition, consistent with an intersectional perspective, we tested whether this mediating pathway was moderated by participants’ gender and we hypothesized that the mediating effect of BMI would be stronger among women, relative to men. We used two independent large-scale studies to test the proposed pathways cross-sectionally and prospectively. In a first sample composed of 5,723 British adults (Study 1), BMI partly mediated the cross-sectional association between administrative area deprivation and self-reported physical activity. Moreover, relative to men, the detrimental effect of deprivation on BMI was exacerbated among women, with BMI mediating 3.1% of the association between deprivation and physical activity among women (vs 1.5% among men). In a second sample composed of 8,358 European older adults (Study 2), our results confirmed the findings observed in Study 1: BMI partly mediated the prospective association between perceived material and social deprivation and self-reported physical activity. Moreover, compared to men, the effect of deprivation on BMI was more pronounced among women, with BMI respectively mediating 8.1% and 3.4% of the association between material and social deprivation and physical activity among women (vs 1.3% and 1.2% among men). These findings suggest that BMI partly explained the detrimental association between deprivation and physical activity, with this effect being stronger among women. Our study highlights the need to further consider how gender may shape the mechanisms behind the association between disadvantaged socio-economic circumstances and physical activity.

UNSTRUCTURED Not applicable.

Declines in subjective energy availability and cognitive functions could explain the decrease in physical activity observed across aging. However, how these factors interact remains unknown. Based on the theory of effort minimization in physical activity (TEMPA), we hypothesized that cognitive functions may help older adults to maintain physical activity even when energy availability is perceived as insufficient. This study used data of 104,590 adults from 21 European countries, from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), including 7 measurement occasions between 2004 and 2017. Cognitive functions were assessed with verbal fluency and delayed recall, using the verbal fluency test and the 10-word delayed recall test. Physical activity and subjective energy availability were self-reported. Results of linear mixed-effects models revealed that cognitive functions moderated the associations between subjective energy availability and physical activity. Moreover, as adults get older, cognitive functions became critical to engage in physical activity regardless the availability of perceived energy. Sensitivity and robustness analyses were consistent with the main results. These results suggest that cognitive functions may help older adults to maintain regular physical activity even when energy for goal pursuit becomes insufficient, but that the protective role of cognitive functions becomes critical at older age, irrespective of the state of perceived energy.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00654-2.

Purpose. Inducing a negative stereotype toward women usually leads to a decrease in women performance and an increase in men performance. These effects were observed during technical tasks. The pur...

Purpose: This study aimed to determine if networks of users consistently posting about exercise and fat exist and overlap on social media sites.Method: We collected 1,971,207 English-language posts from 1,446,630 Twitter users that included the words “fat” and “exercise”. Using network structure methods, we identified communities of interconnected users and overlaps between those tweeting “fat” and those tweeting “exercise”. Results: Common word pairings were identified using Natural Language Processing (NLP). Networks of users consistently talking about exercise (n=3,573) and fat (n=2,007) were found on Twitter. An increased mean total-degree and reduced average path length indicate that the fitness-talk network serves as a connecting bridge between highly scattered communities of the weight-talk network. Conclusion: We identified groups on Twitter that consistently produce weight stigmatizing content and promote exercise with weight-loss messages. These groups partially overlap with pro-health groups which could lead to users looking for exercise advice in Twitter to find themselves immersed in a stigmatizing network.Level of evidence

OBJECTIVE: Habits, defined as well-learned associations between cues and behaviours, are essential for health-related behaviours, including physical activity (PA). Despite the sensitivity of habits to context changes, little remains known about the influence of a context change on the interplay between PA habits and behaviours. We investigated the evolution of PA habits amidst the spring COVID-19 lockdown, a major context change. Moreover, we examined the association of PA behaviours and autonomous motivation with this evolution.DESIGN: Three-wave observational longitudinal design.METHODS: PA habits, behaviours, and autonomous motivation were collected through online surveys in 283 French and Swiss participants. Variables were self-reported with reference to three time-points: before-, mid-, and end-lockdown.RESULTS: Mixed effect modelling revealed a decrease in PA habits from before- to mid-lockdown, especially among individuals with strong before-lockdown habits. Path analysis showed that before-lockdown PA habits were not associated with mid-lockdown PA behaviours (β = -.02, p = .837), while mid-lockdown PA habits were positively related to end-lockdown PA behaviours (β = .23, p = .021). Autonomous motivation was directly associated with PA habits (ps < .001) and withto before- and mid-lockdown PA behaviours (ps < .001) (but not with end-lockdown PA behaviours) and did not moderate the relations between PA behaviours and habits (ps > .072).CONCLUSION: PA habits were altered, and their influence on PA behaviours was impeded during the COVID-19 lockdown. Engagement in PA behaviours and autonomous motivation helped in counteracting PA habits disruption.

ObjectivesPhysical activity has been proposed as a protective factor for COVID-19 hospitalization. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Here, we examined the association between physical activity and COVID-19 hospitalization and whether this relationship was explained by other risk factors for severe COVID-19.MethodWe used data from adults aged 50 years and older from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The outcome was self-reported hospitalization due to COVID-19 measured before August 2020. The main exposure was usual physical activity, self-reported between 2004 and 2017. Data were analyzed using logistic regression models.ResultsAmong the 3139 participants included in the study (69.3 ± 8.5 years, 1763 women), 266 were tested positive for COVID-19 and 66 were hospitalized. Results showed that individuals who engaged in physical activity more than once a week had lower odds of COVID-19 hospitalization than individuals who hardly ever or never engaged in physical activity (odds ratios = 0.41, 95% confidence interval = 0.22–0.74, p = .004). This association between physical activity and COVID-19 hospitalization was explained by muscle strength, but not by other risk factors.ConclusionThese findings suggest that, after 50 years of age, engaging in physical activity more than once a week is associated with lower odds of COVID-19 hospitalization. The protective effect of physical activity on COVID-19 hospitalization is explained by muscle strength.

Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) : RGPIN‐2021‐03153; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000049, Funder: Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004189, Funder: German Ministry of Education and Research, Funder: European Commission; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780, BACKGROUND: Weak muscle strength has been associated with a wide range of adverse health outcomes. Yet, whether individuals with weaker muscle strength are more at risk for hospitalization due to severe COVID-19 is still unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the independent association between muscle strength and COVID-19 hospitalization. METHODS: Data from adults 50 years of age or older were analysed using logistic models adjusted for several chronic conditions, body-mass index, age, and sex. Hand-grip strength was repeatedly measured between 2004 and 2017 using a handheld dynamometer. COVID-19 hospitalization during the lockdown was self-reported in summer 2020 and was used as an indicator of COVID-19 severity. RESULTS: The study was based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and included 3600 older adults (68.8 ± 8.8 years, 2044 female), among whom 316 were tested positive for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (8.8%), and 83 (2.3%) were hospitalized due to COVID-19. Results showed that higher grip strength was associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization [adjusted odds ratio (OR) per increase of 1 standard deviation in grip strength = 0.64, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.45-0.87, P = 0.015]. Results also showed that age (OR for a 10 -year period = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.32-2.20, P < 0.001) and obesity (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.00-3.69, P = 0.025) were associated with higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization. Sensitivity analyses using different measurements of grip strength as well as robustness analyses based on rare-events logistic regression and a different sample of participants (i.e. COVID-19 patients) were consistent with the main results. CONCLUSIONS: Muscle strength is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 severity in adults 50 years of age or older.

Background Despite the key role of physical activity in the management of diabetes, many individuals with diabetes do not engage in the recommended levels of physical activity. However, our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between diabetes and physical inactivity is limited. Purpose To investigate the associations between diabetes and the levels and evolution of physical activity across aging, and to determine whether physical, emotional, and cognitive factors mediate these associations. Methods Data from 105,622 adults aged 50–96 years from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) were used in adjusted linear mixed models to examine whether diabetes was associated with physical activity levels and variations across aging. The potential mediators were subjective energy, muscle strength, physical and cognitive disability, sleep problems, depressive symptoms, and cognitive functions. The variables were measured up to seven times over a 13-year period. Results Individuals with diabetes demonstrated a lower level and a steeper decrease in physical activity across aging than individual without diabetes. Mediators explained ~53% and 94% of the association of diabetes with the level of physical activity and with the linear evolution of physical activity across aging, respectively. All mediators were significantly associated with physical activity. Physical and cognitive disability as well as depressive symptoms were the strongest mediators, while sleep was the lowest one. Conclusions These findings suggest that the etiology of physical inactivity in individuals with diabetes can result from several physical, emotional, and cognitive changes associated with the emergence of this disease.

International audience; To examine the indirect relationships between physical activity, and well-being (i.e., need satisfaction, subjective vitality, and stress) of individuals, through recovery experiences (i.e., detachment from lockdown, relaxation, mastery, and control over leisure time) during the spring 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Methods. 405 participants answered an online survey including questions on physical activity, recovery experiences, subjective vitality, perceived stress, and basic psychological needs satisfaction. Structural equation modeling tested a full-mediated model in which physical activity predicted recovery experience, which in turn predicted well-being. Results. Physical activity was positively related to a latent variable representing recovery experiences, which in turn was positively related to a latent variable representing well-being. Conclusions. Physical activity carried out regularly during the COVID-19 lockdown positively predicted well-being through recovery experiences. The study results highlight the importance of maintaining or increasing physical activity during periods when recovery experiences and well-being may be threatened.

BACKGROUND Gamification refers to the use of game elements in nongame contexts. The use of gamification to change behaviors and promote physical activity (PA) is a promising avenue for tackling the global physical inactivity pandemic and the current prevalence of chronic diseases. However, there is no evidence of the effectiveness of gamified interventions with the existence of mixed results in the literature. OBJECTIVE The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of gamified interventions and their health care potential by testing the generalizability and sustainability of their influence on PA and sedentary behavior. METHODS A total of 5 electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) were searched for randomized controlled trials published in English from 2010 to 2020. Eligibility criteria were based on the components of the participants, interventions, comparators, and outcomes framework. Studies were included when they used gamified interventions in daily life with an active or inactive control group and when they assessed a PA or sedentary behavior outcome. We conducted meta-analyses using a random-effects model approach. Sensitivity analyses, influence analyses, and publication bias analyses were performed to examine the robustness of our results. RESULTS The main meta-analysis performed on 16 studies and 2407 participants revealed a small to medium summary effect of gamified interventions on PA behavior (Hedges g=0.42, 95% CI 0.14-0.69). No statistical difference among different subgroups (adults vs adolescents and healthy participants vs adults with chronic diseases) and no interaction effects with moderators such as age, gender, or BMI were found, suggesting good generalizability of gamified interventions to different user populations. The effect was statistically significant when gamified interventions were compared with inactive control groups, such as waiting lists (Hedges g=0.58, 95% CI 0.08-1.07), and active control groups that included a nongamified PA intervention (Hedges g=0.23, 95% CI 0.05-0.41). This suggests that gamified interventions are not only efficient in changing behavior but also more effective compared with other behavioral interventions. The long-term effect (measured with follow-up averaging 14 weeks after the end of the intervention) was weaker, with a very small to small effect (Hedges g=0.15, 95% CI 0.07-0.23). CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis confirms that gamified interventions are promising for promoting PA in various populations. Additional analyses revealed that this effect persists after the follow-up period, suggesting that it is not just a novelty effect caused by the playful nature of gamification, and that gamified products appear effective compared with equivalent nongamified PA interventions. Future rigorous trials are required to confirm these findings.

International audience; Mobility is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, urban air pollution is a major public health issue in both North and South countries. This project aims to show the synergies between short-term public health issues related to pollution and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. MobilAir, in a fundamentally interdisciplinary approach, aims to identify specific measures to significantly reduce urban air pollution and its impacts. Building on the multidisciplinary richness of the Grenoble campus, MobilAir will develop an integrated approach in the Grenoble urban area, a relevant pilot area. MobilAir aims to develop methods and tools that can be replicated in other cities in France or abroad. Specifically, MobilAir has three main objectives: (1) A better comprehension of the population’s exposure to pollution; (2) A detailed understanding of the determinants of mobility behaviour and (3) Support for public decision-making.

Objective. To examine the indirect relationships between physical activity, and well-being (i.e., need satisfaction, subjective vitality, and stress) of individuals, through recovery experiences (i.e., detachment from lockdown, relaxation, mastery and control over leisure time) during the spring 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.Design. Cross-sectional.Methods. 405 participants answered an online survey including questions on physical activity, recovery experiences, subjective vitality, perceived stress and basic psychological needs satisfaction. Structural equation modelling tested a full-mediated model in which physical activity predicted recovery experience, which in turn predicted well-being.Results. Physical activity was positively related to a latent variable representing recovery experiences, which in turn was positively related to a latent variable representing well-being.Conclusions. Physical activity carried out regularly during the COVID-19 lockdown predicted positively well-being through recovery experiences. The study results highlight the importance of maintaining or increasing physical activity during periods when recovery experiences and well-being may be threatened.

Ego-depletion has been one of the most criticized psychological phenomena these past years. New approaches have been proposed to increase its replicability, but often failed, mostly due to inaccurate conceptions that misguided methodological decisions, such as inappropriate tasks choice. In this commentary, we question the reinvention of the ego-depletion paradigm claimed by Lin et al. (2020). Specifically, we discuss the absence of a comprehensive definition of self-control, which is central to the concept of ego-depletion, the lack of distinction between ego-depletion and mental fatigue, and the depleting task chosen to induce ego-depletion that we deem inappropriate. We propose some conceptual clarifications to promote the implementation of rigorous methods in ego-depletion research.

International audience; This study investigated the role of self-control in health behaviors at both trait and state levels. We examined if trait and state self-control independently predict health behaviors, as well as the mechanisms of these relationships (desire, conflict, and resistance). This question was investigated on unhealthy and healthy behaviors, in the domain of physical activity, diet, and smoking. 325 participants completed a questionnaire assessing trait and state self-control, as well as desire, conflict, resistance, and health behaviors. Path analyses revealed that trait self-control indirectly predicted unhealthy behaviors through reduced desire, conflict, and resistance, and directly predicted healthy behaviors. These relationships remained significant when controlling for state self-control, suggesting that people’s general tendency to prioritize distal goals over proximal motives uniquely predicts behaviors. Results also showed that adding state self-control to the model doubled the explained variance in healthy behaviors, highlighting the importance of considering self-control capacity at both trait and state levels.