title: Youth exercise intention and past exercise behavior: examining the moderating influences of sex and meeting exercise recommendations.
abstract: The study purposes were to examine: (a) the determinants of exercise intention and past exercise behavior (PEB) using the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, and (b) the moderating influences of sex and exercise group (meeting or not meeting exercise guidelines). Participants (n = 676 adolescents) completed self-reported measures of their exercise attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (PBC), intention, and PEB. We found that attitude, subjective norm, and PBC explained 55% of the variance in intention, and intention and PBC explained 51% of the variance in PEB. While we found sex and exercise group differences across the study measures, we did not find evidence of significant moderation. Thus, the theory constructs predicted intention and PEB similarly across sex and exercise groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802-5701, USA. dsd11@psu.edu
authors.forename: Danielle Symons
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Downs
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bargainnier
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vasil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires