Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and satisfaction with life in emerging adults: Untangling their associations using self-report and direct measures of (in)activity
Satisfaction with life (SWL) is not only an important outcome in and of itself, but SWL also has implications for health, social relationships, community involvement, and productivity at work. Given the established benefits of SWL, it is important to understand the factors that influence SWL so strategies can be developed to enhance SWL. Physical activity (PA) is an established between-person, top-down predictor of SWL. More recently, the influence of PA has also been investigated from a within-person, bottom-up perspective. Although this approach has revealed a direct within-person association between PA and SWL in emerging adults, it has relied on self-reported PA and has not differentiated between low levels of activity and inactivity. A 14-day daily diary study was designed (1) to determine if the association between PA and SWL present using self-reported activity was also present using directly-measured activity and (2) to untangle the effects of PA and sedentary behavior (SB) on SWL. Results revealed that PA and SB had additive, within-person effects on SWL. People reported greater SWL on days when they were more active than was typical for them, and people reported lower SWL on days when they were more sedentary than was typical for them. Results were consistent across self-reported and directly-measured (in)activity. Additional analyses revealed that daily moderate-intensity PA appeared to drive the within-person association between self-reported PA and SWL; that the association between directly-measured moderate-intensity PA and SWL also was positive and trended toward significance. Findings from this study suggest that strategies to promote daily health and well-being should encourage emerging adults to incorporate bouts of moderate-intensity PA as well as to limit their sitting time throughout the day
