Factors Affecting Physical Activity and Exercise: Demographics, Psychology, and Behavior

1. Chapter 2 Factors affecting physical activity and exercise

2. Factors affecting physical activity and exercise (Oliveira-Brochado, Oliveira-Brochado & Brito,2010) • Demographic and biological • Psychological, cognitive, and emotional • Behavioral attributes and skills • Social and cultural • Physical environmental

3. Demographic and biological factors • age • ethnicity • gender • income • socioeconomic status • marital status • race/ethnicity • body mass index

4. Age • A person’s age and musculoskeletal and nervous system development affect their: • - posture • - body proportions • - body mass • - and body movements

5. Growth and Development (Kozier,Erb,Blais & Nilkinson,1995) • Infants (1 year): Usually stands with legs slightly bowed and feet far apart. Balance is precarious. • Toddlers: Commonly uses arms for balance. • School-age children: Usually has excellent posture. • Adolescents : Posture is highly individual and determined to a large extent by the person’s self-image. • Older adults: Deterioration of postural reflexes may require conscious widening of base of support to maintain balance.

6. Age • Almeida et al. (2005) found that as age increased, the number of participants decreased for most activities with the exception of walking and gardening. • Physical activity levels are the highest in childhood and decrease throughout adolescence and into adulthood (Katzmarzyk 2007).

7. Ethnicity • Ethnicity may play a role in explaining variation in physical activity levels. • Cultural practices and religious beliefs may affect one’s level of physical activity, and access to recreational resources may differ by ethnicity (Katzmarzyk,2007)

8. Gender • Across the life span, males are more physically active than females, and they are more likely to participate in more vigorous forms of physical activity. (Katzmarzyk 2007) • There were more female participants for walking, keep fit, swimming and dancing, while football and other team sports had higher levels of participation among men compared with women. • Some barriers to physical activity differ among children and youths, middle-aged people, and older adults and between women and men (Godin et al. 1994).

9. Marital status • Some studies found that married people are more active than single people (Lee and Bhargava, 2004). • King et al. (1998) found that the transition from a single to a married state had a positive influence in physical activity, while, the transition from a married to a single state did not change physical activity behavior.

10. socioeconomic status • Socioeconomic status, income, occupation, and education were usually found to be positively related to physical activity participation (Trost et al., 2002). • Almeida et al. (2005) found that there were more participants in most activities with increased education and Scheerder et al. (2006) concluded that a lower social class background serves as a barrier to involvement in sports and the type of leisure-time activity practiced varies in function of the subject’s social class. • Lera-López and RapúnGárate (2007) found a negative influence of some professional status categories on sport participation.

11. Body Mass Index (BMI) • Almeida et al. (2005) found that the association between daily physical activity and Body Mass Index (BMI) was not strong, but there is a tendency for overweight subjects to be those less involved in various activities.

12. Psychological, cognitive, and emotional factors • Attitudes • barriers to exercise • control over exercise • enjoyment over exercise • expected benefits • health locus of control • intention to exercise • knowledge of health and exercise • lack of time

13. Psychological, cognitive, and emotional factors • mood disturbance • normative beliefs • perceived health or fitness • personality variables • body image • psychological health, self-efficacy • self-motivation • stage of change • stress • value of exercise outcomes

14. Psychological, cognitive, and emotional factors • Brownson et al. (2001) concluded that, among US adults, the most commonly reported personal barriers were lack of time, feeling too tired, obtaining enough exercise at one’s job, and no motivation to exercise. • Barriers to physical activity emerged as a strong influence on leisure time activity. • Lack of time was often perceived to be a barrier to physical activity (Humbert et al, 2006). • The factors cited as causing lack of participation in the exercises were mainly negative attitudes to exercise, low awareness level and lack of facilities. (Nambaka, J.E., Kamau, J., Amusa, L.O., Goon, D.T. & Mwisukha, A., 2011).

15. Behavioural attributes and skills factors • activity history during childhood andyouth • activity history during adulthood • alcohol drinking habit • contemporary exercise program • dietary habits • past exercise program • process of change • school sports • skills for coping with barriers

16. Behavioural attributes and skills • Lifestyles characterized by certain types of consumption as drinking, smoking and excessive TV viewing may adversely affect physical activity levels as well (Sale, Guppy and El-Sayed, 2000). • Vries et al. (2008) found that behaviors as nonsmoking and physical activity are associated with each other and being a smoker was inversely related to physical activity in Germany. • A person’s lifestyles can affect physical activity and exercise.

17. Social and cultural factors • class size • exercise models • group cohesion • past family influence • physical influence • social isolation • social support from friends and/or family members

18. Social and cultural factors • Social support from family, friends and peers on physical activity (Sallis et al., 1987) • direct (such as exercising together or taking care of children so the spouse can exercise) • indirect (as encouraging a friend or family to be more active) • To promote physical activity, participation among youth must be addressed (Humbert et al, 2006)

19. Physical environmental factors • actual access to facilities • perceived access to facilities • adequate lighting • climate/season • cost of programs • disruptions in routine • enjoyable scenery • home equipment, high crime rates in the region • neighborhood safety • presence of sidewalks • satisfaction with facilities • urban location

20. Physical environmental factors • physical environments provides opportunities for physical activity, some examples include: • - natural such as climate, weather, elevations and scenery • - man made environments such as buildings, availability of facilities, runways, workplaces, homes, access, convenience, safety, and urban planning and design

21. Physical environmental factors • Influences on an individual level include exercise equipment at home, access to facilities, and satisfaction with recreation facilities • Influences on a community level include neighborhood safety, hilly terrain, frequent observation of others, engaging in physical activity and enjoying the scenery. (Brownson et al., 2001; Santos et al., 2008).

22. Conclusion • Factors that influence physical activity may be biologically determined, or may belong to the physical or social environment.