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Objective: To assess preferred sources of information for seeking physical activity (PA), and how PA information seeking may contribute to participation in a campus PA program. Participants: Students attending a large, Western Canadian university between April 2015 and April 2018. Methods: Secondary analysis of an annual campus-wide survey. Results: Students sought PA information for general health. Females sought information about weight loss for appearances; males sought information for muscle gain for appearance. Internet and friends were primary sources of PA information. Regression analysis indicated females 2.49 (95% CI 1.98-3.13), domestic students 2.86, 95% CI (2.04-4.02), and first year students 24.88, 95% CI (18.12-34.17) were most likely to participate in a campus PA program. Only health reasons significantly contributed to participation 1.42, 95% CI (1.06-1.89). Conclusions: Emerging adults attending university may benefit from PA promotion that makes use of their preferred information sources.

Introduction: ParticipACTION's 2011 "Think Again" campaign aimed to draw parents', and specifically mothers', attention to the amount of physical activity (PA) their children do relative to the national guidelines (physical activity guidelines [PAG]). Purpose: To evaluate ParticipACTION's "Think Again" campaign in the context of the hierarchy of effects model. Methods: Data were drawn from "Think Again" campaign evaluations conducted among two cohorts of parents with children ages 5 to 11 years (3 months postcampaign launch [T1], n = 702; 15 months postlaunch [T2], n = 670). Results: At T2, campaign awareness was weakly associated with parents agreeing that their children were not active enough (p = 0.01, d = 0.18). Parents who were aware of the campaign showed greater knowledge of PAG (ps < 0.01, ?s > 0.14), had higher outcome expectations about their children engaging in PA (p < 0.01, d = 0.16), had stronger intentions to help their child meet the guidelines (p < 0.01, d = 0.18), and engaged in more parental support behaviors (p < 0.001, d = 0.31) as compared with parents who were not aware. At T1, parents aware of the campaign had greater perceived behavioral control (PBC) to influence their child's PA participation (p < 0.01, d = 0.22), whereas parents not aware of the campaign had greater PBC to find practical ways to help their child be active (p < 0.01, d = 0.26). Parental awareness of the campaign was not associated with children meeting the PAG at either time point (ps > 0.05). Conclusions: The campaign appeared marginally effective for increasing parental knowledge of PAG and for creating realistic awareness of children's PA levels. Additional intervention strategies are needed to produce larger effects and to change parental behavior.

To better understand exercise-related cognitive errors (ECEs) from a dual processing perspective, the purpose of this study was to examine their relationship to two automatic exercise processes. It was hypothesized that ECEs would account for more variance than automatic processes in predicting intentions, that ECEs would interact with automatic processes to predict intentions, and that exercise schema would distinguish between different levels of ECEs. Adults (N = 136, Mage = 29 years, 42.6% women) completed a cross-sectional study and responded to three survey measures (ECEs, exercise self-schema, and exercise intentions) and two computerized implicit tasks (the approach/avoid task and single-category Implicit Association Test). ECEs were not correlated with the two implicit measures; however, ECEs moderated the relationship between approach tendency toward exercise stimuli and exercise intentions. Exercise self-schema were differentiated by ECE level. This study expands our knowledge of ECEs by examining their relationship to different automatic and reflective processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

It is unknown how lifelong digital media users such as young adult women perceive exercise information found online. A total of 141 women aged 18-30 years and residing in Canada were randomized to read either a factually incorrect or a factually correct blog article. Participants completed Go/No-Go tasks to measure automatically activated believability and evaluations and questionnaires to explicitly measure believability, affective evaluations, and intentions to exercise. Participants did not show evidence of automatically activated believability of the content found in either blog article. However, participants reading the factually correct article reported significantly greater explicit disbelief than those reading the factually incorrect article, though this did not predict intentions. Being factually correct may not be an important component of message believability. Exercise professionals need to remain aware of the content of popular online sources of information in an effort to curb misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine changes in physical activity behavior, psychological factors and interpersonal influences associated with exercise behavior during the transition from secondary school to high school in Sanandaj, Iran. Design: Data were collected from students in 2006 (N = 1,073), of whom 844 provided follow-up data in 2009. Setting: The students were in high school in 2009 (51% male) with a mean age of 16.42 + 1.73 years. Method: Physical activity-related cognitions, interpersonal influences, and physical activity behavior were measured using self-report questionnaires. To assess the effects of time and sex on psychosocial factors, analysis of variances (ANOVAs) were conducted. The relative stability of physical activity psychosocial correlates from wave 1 through wave 2 was assessed using Pearson product-moment correlations. Results: There were significant differences according to sex across time for physical activity, psychological variables and interpersonal influences associated with exercise activities. The girls were less active than boys at both time points. Girls reported lower self-efficacy and perceived more barriers and fewer perceived benefits for physical activity over time. Interpersonal influences on activity were more stable for girls than boys. Conclusion: The results offer evidence for decreasing physical activity in boys and girls and sex differences in cognitive variables and interpersonal influences. This is important for understanding how to address the problem of physical inactivity among Iranian youth. (Contains 4 tables.)

Purpose: Size inclusive physical activity settings may help mitigate the impact of physical activity-related weight stigma. In this interpretive description study, we aimed to understand how women with larger bodies experienced size inclusive physical activity settings. The study was informed by a settings-based approach to health promotion. Method: We interviewed nine women with larger bodies who participated in size inclusive physical activity and used an inductive approach to analyze the data. Findings: At the individual level, size inclusion was experienced as an enhancement of well-being, self-worth, and belonging. This was closely tied to the interpersonal level, whereby weight-neutral practices used by fitness instructors and lack of judgment from other exercisers contributed to experiences of size inclusion. At the organizational level, the organization's culture, marketing, programs, and physical spaces could enhance or limit inclusion and participation. However, weight stigma was prevalent in women's experiences outside the physical activity setting. Conclusion: We provide recommendations to improve size inclusion in physical activity settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the relationship between implicit and explicit "exerciser" and "sedentary" self-identity when activated by stereotypes. Undergraduate participants (N = 141) wrote essays about university students who either liked to exercise or engage in sedentary activities. This was followed by an implicit identity task and an explicit measure of exercise self-identity. Results showed that implicit and explicit exerciser identities were not highly correlated. There were also no significant prime effects, but women showed greater implicit sedentary identity, whereas men showed greater implicit exercise identity. This research suggests that implicit exercise-related identity is a distinct construct from explicit exercise identity. The results also reflect responses to societal pressures for women to be thin and for men to be strong, when free of self-presentational bias. (Contains 1 note.)

Objective: To explore the barriers associated with the adoption of the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth in schools according to characteristics of the innovation (guidelines) and the organization (schools). Design: Cross-sectional telephone survey. Setting and Participants: Schools in Alberta, Canada. Principals from 357 schools. Main Outcome Measure: Barriers to adopting the nutrition guidelines. Analysis: A 19-question telephone survey, including open- and closed-ended questions, was used to obtain information regarding schools' characteristics and barriers to adopting the guidelines. Qualitative data were coded according to common themes a priori, based on constructs from the Diffusion of Innovations framework. Results: Schools reported many barriers related to the relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity of adopting the guidelines. Parents' resistance to change and cost were the key reported barriers. Lack of knowledge, student preferences, the physical location of the school, and barriers related to the provision of healthful food were also reported. Conclusions and Implications: Disseminating guidelines without providing adequate support for their implementation may not promote change within the school setting. School nutrition initiatives need to involve the parents and have access to sufficient financial and human resource support. (Contains 4 tables.)

This research examined attentional bias toward exercise-related images using a visual probe task. It was hypothesized that more-active participants would display attentional bias toward the exercise-related images. The results showed that men displayed attentional bias for the exercise images. There was a significant interaction of activity level by gender, and simple slopes analysis showed that active women displayed attentional bias toward the exercise-related images and inactive women displayed attentional bias toward the control images. A similar analysis with explicit attention to the pictures as the outcome variable was not significant. These findings confirm that attention for exercise-related images can be captured automatically regardless of whether people report they are attending to them. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

Promoting sustainable physical activity (PA) behavior change is challenging, and a number of theoretical models have been developed and applied to this problem. Pender's health promotion model (HPM) is a relatively new model that is based on Bandura's social cognitive theory but includes the additional construct of competing demands, which are viewed as alternative behaviors (e.g., watching television) that have powerful reinforcing properties. This study evaluates the HPM as a means to predict PA in a sample of Iranian adolescent boys. Participants were 515 boys from 100 junior high and high schools in Sanandaj, Iran. Participants' mean age was 14.33 years (SD = 1.6, range = 12-17). Participants completed questions assessing social cognitive variables, and structural equation modeling was used to fit the data to the HPM. The HPM accounted for 37% of the variance in PA but did not represent a good data fit ([chi][superscript 2] = 913.85, df = 473, p less than 0.001). There were significant pathways between PA and self-efficacy ([beta] = 0.25, p less than 0.001), enjoyment ([beta] = 0.22, p less than 0.01), and PA modeling ([beta] = -0.13, p less than 0.05). A revised model that included the indirect effects of competing demands explained 34% of the variance in PA and represented a good data fit ([chi][superscript 2] = 9.12, df = 4, p = 0.058). In the revised model, self-efficacy, commitment to planning, and enjoyment were associated with PA. According to the HPM, competing demands influence PA. In the study sample, competing demands were not related to PA but were inversely associated with commitment to planning. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Background: Poor nutritional practices and heightened levels of stress, two common attributes of university life, are strongly linked with weight gain and decreased health. Little research has examined the relationships between university students' lifestyle factors and campus eating behaviours; therefore, this study aimed to examine relationships between lifestyle and campus eating behaviour. Methods: Both lifestyle and eating behaviour questionnaires were developed and administered to male and female undergraduate students at a Canadian university (n=132). Participants were asked to complete the questionnaire during allotted class time or return the completed questionnaire at the following lecture. Data was analysed with a combination of correlation and difference testing. Results: Students whose living arrangements had not changed since high school consumed less alcohol than individuals who moved away from their previous dwellings. Fast food consumption was also significantly related to lower physical activity levels and higher expenditures for food on campus. Males also consumed more alcohol than females and spent more money for food on campus. Conclusion: Relationships do exist between lifestyle and campus eating behaviour. These results may be used as a foundation for future research on the effect of lifestyle on eating behaviours and nutritional status in university age students. (Contains 3 tables.)

The purpose of this research was to examine whether pedometer ownership and source of pedometer (i.e., self-purchased, a gift, a promotion) was related to physical activity self-efficacy and outcome expectations in relation to physical activity. Further, the authors examined whether there was a relationship between pedometer ownership and pedometer source and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and walking behavior. The authors also observed the possible role of sociodemographic variables, including gender, age, socioeconomic status, and education in these relationships. Results of the study showed that although pedometer ownership may be related to self-efficacy and outcome expectations in relation to LTPA, it is not directly associated with higher LTPA levels or walking. Further, men who bought their pedometers indicated greater coping self-efficacy than those who received them in a promotion. (Contains 1 table.)

Objectives: To investigate the effects of exercise advertising on self-efficacy and decisional balance for changing exercise behavior. Methods: One hundred seventy-four university students (females = 108; males = 66) watched a video that contained health, appearance, or control advertising and completed stage of change, exercise self-efficacy, and decisional balance questionnaires. Results: There was a significant condition by gender interaction indicating that men in the appearance condition had lower self-efficacy than did females. Health promotion advertising did not have any effect. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the message in appearance-based advertising that men should be muscular may be detrimental.

Discrepancies between automatically activated associations (i.e., implicit evaluations) and explicit evaluations of motives (measured with a questionnaire) could lead to greater information processing to resolve discrepancies or self-regulatory failures that may affect behavior. This research examined the relationship of health and appearance exercise-related explicit-implicit evaluative discrepancies, the interaction between implicit and explicit evaluations, and the combined value of explicit and implicit evaluations (i.e., the summed scores) to dropout from a yearlong exercise program. Participants (N = 253) completed implicit health and appearance measures and explicit health and appearance motives at baseline, prior to starting the exercise program. The sum of implicit and explicit appearance measures was positively related to weeks in the program, and discrepancy between the implicit and explicit health measures was negatively related to length of time in the program. Implicit exercise evaluations and their relationships to oft-cited motives such as appearance and health may inform exercise dropout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Poor nutritional practices and heightened levels of stress, two common attributes of university life, are strongly linked with weight gain and decreased health. Little research has examined the relationships [...]

Background: Mass media campaign is an integral tool to influence physical activity participant behaviors. The purpose of the systematic review was to identify the effectiveness of mass media campaigns in promoting physical activity. Methods: Literature update from January 2010 to September 2016 was conducted in 13 databases. Full text articles of 128 were screened, and 23 articles (18 campaigns) were selected from the initial 1692 articles. Results: All campaigns involved mass media advertisements to promote physical activity to general individuals (n = 2), adults (8), children (4), older adults (2), and parents of children (n = 2). The campaign evaluation designs included clustered RCT (2), cohort (3), quasi-experimental (9), and cross-sectional (9). Eight articles demonstrated significant campaign impact on proximal, 6 on intermediate, 5 on distal outcomes, and 6 on distal change based on either proximal or intermediate outcome. Conclusion: The current review assessed the outcome evaluation of mass media physical activity campaigns that varied in their respective scope, target population and outcomes measured to identify individual changes at proximal, intermediate, and distal level. Results from formative and process evaluation as well as dose-response and cost-effective analysis are suggested to provide valuable evidence for campaign stakeholders and planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]