title: Self-efficacy for coping with barriers helps students stay physically active during transition to their first year at a university.
abstract: The present study examined undergraduate students' physical activity during transition from high school to first-year university. Students' (N = 127) self-efficacy for coping with barriers to physical activity was investigated both as a predictor of physical activity and mediator of the relationship between pretransition and first-year physical activity. Physical activity was found to track moderately from pretransition to first year (rs = .58). Self-efficacy for coping with barriers predicted physical activity (R2adjusted = .18, p < .05) and partially mediated the relationship between pretransition and first-year physical activity. Results support an interpretation that future intervention efforts could target first-year students' self-efficacy for coping with barriers to help curb the decline in physical activity that occurs during the transition to university life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. sbray@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bray
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires