Explaining Physical Exercise Behavior by Its Cognitive Antecedents

Abstract

The cognitive antecedents of exercising behavior are identified and used to explain the incidence, extent and regularity of physical exercise. Data from 183 adult residents of a U.S. city showed that outcome beliefs weighted by the evaluation of outcomes and employed in a compensatory fashion and perceived threat explained 30 percent of variance in the survey respondents’ exercise behavior. Close to 40 percent of respondents did not exercise with any fair regularity, and social marketers concerned with increasing the general fitness levels of a population would find the results of this research helpful in identifying appropriate influence strategies.