Affective Judgements, Environmental Determinants, and Physical Activity in Emerging and Young Adults
Open Access
- Author:
- Turrisi, Taylor
- Graduate Program:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 03, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Jonathan Bates Dingwell, Program Head/Chair
David E Conroy, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Danielle Symons Downs, Committee Member
Constantino Manuel Lagoa, Committee Member - Keywords:
- affective judgements
physical activity
social support
built environment
weather
photoperiod
social environment
natural enviornment
environmental determinants
motivation
young adult
emerging adult
emotions - Abstract:
- Affective judgements represent a promising target for promoting physical activity among adults. This study examined whether (1) relations between affective judgments and physical activity are robust after adjusting for social, built, and natural environmental determinants and (2) relations vary as a function of specific environmental features. Adults aged 18-29 years (N = 173) self-reported demographic information, affective judgments about physical activity, and characteristics of their social and built environments, and wore an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer for 7 days. Time of year was used to estimate the photoperiod. Affective judgments were not associated with physical activity after adjusting for environmental influences. Support for exercise from friends was positively associated with measures of physical activity volume and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity duration. More favorable perceptions of the built environment were positively associated with moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and negatively associated with duration of light-intensity physical activity. A longer photoperiod was associated with more light-intensity physical activity. These results reflect the importance of environmental determinants of physical activity among emerging and young adults. Findings can inform multilevel physical activity interventions for young and emerging adults that identify as insufficiently active as results demonstrate that affective judgments are not a validated target for promoting activity within this population. Interventions geared towards this population should prioritize other targets, such as environmental variables.