title: Social support for physical activity: Comparison of family, friends, and coworkers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have examined the associations among family, friend, and coworker social support for physical activity. It is important to know the sources of social support that facilitate and promote physical activity among fulltime working adults.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We analyzed the associations among family, friend, and coworker social support for physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among participants in a worksite study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 144 participants from four worksites in a large, southwestern city in the United States. The intervention for the worksite study was Booster Breaks (a physical activity routine of 15 minutes) practiced daily to break-up prolonged sitting time. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regressions were conducted using SPSS version 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age was inversely associated (p = 0.001), and social support from friends (p = 0.04) and coworkers (p = 0.003) were positively associated with physical activity in the unadjusted model. After controlling for all the covariates (age, sex, marital status, BMI, education, and income) in the model, only coworker social support was positively (p = 0.027) associated with physical activity among participants in the workplace study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coworker social support is an important correlate of physical activity and should be incorporated in workplace health promotion programs.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Sonali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Wendell C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Dejian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shegog
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthy Aging and the School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Raheem J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Paxton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support
keywords: Workplace health promotion; physical activity; social support