Physical Activity in Later Life: The Role of Constraints, Negotiation, Motivation, Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC), Age and Gender
Open Access
- Author:
- Son, Julie Stafford
- Graduate Program:
- Leisure Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 29, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Deborah Lee Kerstetter, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Andrew Justin Mowen, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Melissa Hardy, Committee Member
Careen M Yarnal, Committee Member
Laura Payne, Committee Member - Keywords:
- selective optimization with compensation
leisure
physical activity
constraints
negotiation
older adults - Abstract:
- The aim of this study was to elucidate the leisure constraint negotiation process—the relationships between leisure constraints, leisure negotiation strategies, motivation, and leisure behavior—for the physically active leisure of people fifty and older. To accomplish this aim, three investigations were conducted. The first study tested and extended Hubbard and Mannell’s (2001) models of leisure constraint negotiation, replicating the finding that negotiation fully mediates motivation and participation but also finding, in contrast, that constraints and negotiation have independent, counterbalancing effects on participation. The second study examined whether or not these relationships were maintained across multiple dimensions of physically active leisure (frequency, duration, and a combination of these subdimensions with activity intensity) while controlling for the effects of age and gender. Including age and gender yielded the same result for activity frequency but a different result for overall physically active leisure. In the latter case, negotiation only partially mediated the influence of motivation on participation. Further, frequency fully mediated the effects of constraints, negotiation, and gender on duration. The third study added selective optimization with compensation (SOC) to the examination of the constraint negotiation process of physically active leisure. There were significant interactions between SOC and motivation for negotiation strategies and physical activity duration. In the case of negotiation, there was a positive relationship between SOC and negotiation across motivation levels, with increases most pronounced for people with low motivation. In the case of duration, there was a negative relationship between SOC and duration for people with low to moderate motivation whereas there was a positive relationship between SOC and duration for people with high motivation. Taken altogether, these results suggest that SOC, age, gender and multidimensional measures of physical activity can help contribute to our understanding of the constraint negotiation process. Further research is needed to examine these factors longitudinally and within the general population to understand these relationships over time and in diverse contexts. In turn, revealing the nuances of the constraint negotiation process for physically active leisure participation has implications for leisure-based health promotion programming.