title: Affective response to exercise as a component of exercise motivation: Attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, and temporal stability of intentions.
abstract: PROBLEM: A positive affective response is associated with increased participation in voluntary exercise, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are not well known. Consistent with a Theory of Planned Behaviour perspective, we tested whether affective response to exercise leads to greater motivation in terms of attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy and intentions to exercise. We were also specifically interested in whether a positive affective response leads to more temporally stable intentions.  METHOD: Participants (N = 127) self-reported Theory of Planned Behaviour constructs and exercise behavior at baseline and three months later, and provided reports of exercise-related affect during a 30-minute bout of moderate intensity treadmill exercise at baseline.  RESULTS: We show that participants who experience greater improvements in positive affect, negative affect and fatigue during exercise tended to report more positive attitudes, exercise self-efficacy and intentions to exercise three months later. Affective response was not predictive of subjective norms. As hypothesized, positive affective response was associated with more stable intentions over time.  CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that a positive affective response to acute bouts of exercise can aid in building and sustaining exercise motivation over time.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado at Boulder.
authors.forename: Bethany M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Bryan