Psychosocial Determinants of Physical Activity in a Sample of Undergraduate College Students

It is reported that only 50.4% of males and 39.9% of females aged 18-30 years report meet the U.S. recommended guidelines for physical activity (PA), with the steepest declines occurring in young adulthood. To explain physical inactivity trends, investigators have proposed theory-based psychosocial factors or determinants for the purpose of identifying modifiable psychological barriers to PA. Purpose: The primary aim of this investigation was to explore the relation between PA and psychosocial variables of: 1) motivation (MO); 2) self-efficacy (SE); 3) social support (SS); 4) exercise enjoyment (EE); and 5) body image (BI) in young adult college students aged 18-20 years. A secondary aim was to examine whether young adult males and females differ in psychosocial predictors of PA behavior. Methods: This investigation employed a cross-sectional correlational design. Thirty-five males and 55 females ages 18-20 years were recruited to participate. The mean age was 18.7±0.7 years for the combined sample. Ninety seven percent of males and 78.2% of the females enrolled were college freshmen. Total weekly hours of PA (7-Day Physical Activity Recall) served as the dependent variable. The psychosocial predictor variables were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Results: For males, EE was significantly (p<0.05) correlated to minutes of hard, minutes of very hard, and total minutes of PA. A stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated exercise EE (R2=0.174, F(1,33)=6.949, p=0.013) was the only predictor variable that explained a significant proportion of variance for males. For females, SE, EE, MO, SS from friends, and BI were significantly correlated to minutes of PA. The combination of EE, extrinsic MO, SS from friends, and BI explained 43% of the variance in total minutes of PA in females (R2=0.426, F(4,50)=9.294, p