Comparison of American and French college students' stage of change for muscular fitness-promoting behaviors.
OBJECTIVE
To examine psychosocial concomitants of stages of change for muscular fitness-promoting behavior among college students in America and France.


METHODS
Participants were from Lyon 1 University (Claude Bernard), France (n=71) and Oregon State University, United States (n=3). The main variables of interest were nationality, gendes srage of change, cons, pros, and self-efficacy.


RESULTS
The majority of Americans reported being in action or maintenance, whereas the majority of French reported being in precontemplation or contemplation (66.2% vs. 56.8%, respectively, p < .001). The only theoretical variable that Americans (adjusted mean [M(adj.) = 9.2) and French (M(adj.) = 7.7) differed on was perceived pros (p <.00 1). Nationality, self-efficacy, and pros were the most important stage-of-change concomitants. Stage-of-change classification accuracy was 47.9%.


CONCLUSIONS
This study questions whether the transtheoretical model is fully generalizable when applied to this specific behavioral application using a mixed-culture sample.
Cardinal
Bradley J
BJ
Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, 220 Langton Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA. Brad.Cardinal@oregonstate.edu
Keis
Joa S
JS
Ferrand
Claude
C
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities