Sport and Exercise Psychology Review - Sport Psychology Goes to ...

Albert V. Carron & Shauna M. Burke
six sources of evidence include (a) empirical
analyses of individual preferences for physical
activity contexts, (b) an empirical analysis of
the relationship between physical activity
context and the propensity to meet guidelines
advocated by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention/American College of Sports
Medicine (CDC/ACSM) to achieve health
benefits, (c) propositions emanating from
theory, (d) empirical analyses of the relationship
between physical activity context and
individual adherence behaviour, (e) empirical
analyses of the role of social support on
adherence behavior, and (f) the protocols
emphasised in other areas where behavioural
change is desired. Following the presentation
of each of these, a concluding section containing
generalisations supported by the evidence
is provided.
Individual preferences
An individual’s preference plays an important
role in physical activity enjoyment. For
example, Daley and Maynard (2003)
reported that physically active adults given a
choice of aerobic exercise modes (e.g. treadmill
running, rowing ergometry, stair climbing)
experienced lower negative affect from
pre- to post-activity compared to participants
who were given no choice. Also, Parfitt and
Gledhill (2004) found that low-active adults
in a high-preference condition (i.e. they participated
in their first choice for aerobic
activity) reported lower perceived exertion
and greater positive affect than participants
in the low-preference condition (i.e. they
participated in their third choice).
Analyses of preferences for exercise context
have focused on both adults (30+ years)
and university students (19–25 years) and
provided different patterns of findings.
Thus, it is useful to study the data from these
two populations separately.
Adults
Mills et al. (1997) asked older adults (n = 98;
mean age = 76 years) in a health-promotion
programme to indicate what was more
appealing – exercising in an organised
group/class with a leader or exercising on
their own. Exercising alone was slightly preferred
(34 per cent) to exercising in an
organized group/class (28 per cent), and 39
per cent endorsed both contexts equally.
In a community-based survey, Wilcox et al.
(1999) tested a substantially larger sample (n
= 3305) of participants categorized as older
adults (55–64 years) and middle-aged adults
(50–54 years). Responses to a question similar
to the one used by Mills et al. (1997) indicated
that exercising alone was preferred by a substantially
greater number of both middleaged
(69 per cent) and older adults (67 per
cent).
Two other studies often cited in support of
older adults’ preferences for exercising alone
are by Iverson et al. (1985) and King, Taylor,
Haskell and DeBusk (1990). However, Iverson
et al. reported on physical activity practices not
preferences. In the King et al. study of workplace
physical activity, employees were asked to indicate
how likely they were to engage in physical
activity in different contexts (i.e. on one’s
own, with others, at home, at the workplace).
Although the dominant choice was physical
activity on one’s own rather than in a group or
class, given that ‘likelihood’ was the factor
queried, it is uncertain whether the results
reflected situational exigencies or individual
preferences.
Burke, Carron, and Eys (2005a) took a
slightly different approach in their study of a
sample (n = 220) of adults between the ages
of 30 and 60. Burke et al. reasoned that it is
possible for aerobic activities to be carried
out in other group settings (e.g. with
friends) outside of a structured class environment
and that exercising completely
alone (e.g. riding an exercise bike in one’s
basement) represents a different psychological
context than exercising alone but in the
company of others (i.e. jogging on a treadmill
at a fitness club). Thus, when they asked
respondents ‘in which situation would you
most prefer to participate in an aerobic activity?’
four response options were offered: in a
structured aerobics class; with other people
but not in a structured class; on your own in
24 Sport & Exercise Psychology Review Vol 1 No 2