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Physical activity, self-efficacy, and quality of life in older Czech adults

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Abstract

Despite efforts to expand global physical activity (PA) surveillance data to include both low- and high-income countries worldwide, our understanding of the relationship between PA and quality of life (QOL) in older adults from culturally diverse backgrounds is limited. We tested McAuley’s social-cognitive model of the PA–QOL relationship in the cultural context of the Czech Republic, a post-communist central European country. A total of 546 older Czech adults (mean age 68 years) completed a battery of questionnaires assessing indicators of PA, self-efficacy, health status, and global QOL. A structural equation model was used to test the relationship between PA and QOL. The model hypothesized an indirect relationship between PA and QOL: PA predicted self-efficacy, which in turn predicted global QOL through mental and physical health status. The analyses indicated an acceptable fit of the proposed model, albeit with different emphases than those of studies from Western countries. Above all, we observed a stronger effect of PA on self-efficacy and a weaker mediating effect of health status on the PA–QOL relationship. Our findings supported the validity of McAuley’s PA–QOL social-cognitive model for a non-Western cultural context. However, it seems that self-efficacy and health status may influence the PA–QOL relationship in this population in a manner different from that proposed in McAuley’s model.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by research Grant MSM 0021620864 from MSMT CR and was written in the Framework of the Scientific Branch Development Programme UK FTVS n. 39 Social-Sciences Aspects of Human Movement Studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University in Prague, Jose Martiho 31, 16252, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jiri Mudrak, Jan Stochl & Pavel Slepicka

  2. Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK

    Jan Stochl

  3. Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Steriani Elavsky

Authors
  1. Jiri Mudrak
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  2. Jan Stochl
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  3. Pavel Slepicka
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  4. Steriani Elavsky
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Correspondence to Jiri Mudrak.

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Responsible editor: D.J.H. Deeg.

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Mudrak, J., Stochl, J., Slepicka, P. et al. Physical activity, self-efficacy, and quality of life in older Czech adults. Eur J Ageing 13, 5–14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-015-0352-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-015-0352-1

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