Diane E. Whaley

Creating Community, Assessing Need: Preparing for a Community Physical Activity Intervention

This paper describes the preliminary steps needed to begin a community physical activity intervention in a rural context, including forming a community coalition and assessing values, beliefs, and knowledge about physical activity. A random mail survey (N = 171) indicated relatively high activity rates, and perceived barriers consistent with the literature (time, program convenience, safety issues). Perceived benefits included improving/sustaining health and looking better/improving appearance. Five focus groups added additional barriers (e.g., physical isolation, lack of transportation). Residents were unaware of many existing services and indicated a desire for more walking trails, health-related activities, and low-cost exercise facilities. The discussion focuses on the importance of establishing a community coalition and implications for future program development and research.

Age, gender, and fitness club membership: Factors related to initial involvement and sustained participation

Abstract This study examined individual and contextual factors that contribute to initial involvement and sustained participation in fitness club membership across age and gender. A web‐based survey (N = 326) revealed the top participation motives were health and functioning and appearance, while factors facilitating commitment were seeing physical changes and feeling in control. Significant age and gender differences were found across variables. Appearance‐related issues were more critical for young and middle‐aged adults and more important for women than men. Feeling in control was most important to middle‐aged adults and rated more important to women than men. In general, older adults placed less importance on qualities of the fitness club (convenience, extra amenities, and time‐related factors) than their younger peers, and women rated these qualities to be more important than men. Implications for individuals belonging to a fitness club and for those operating such a facility are discussed

Now that we all agree, let’s talk epistemology: a commentary on the invited articles

In this commentary we will address some common themes evident across articles in this special issue, and suggest that moving beyond the qualitative–quantitative distinction to epistemology is a more fruitful way to ‘reframe’ the discussion about quantitative or qualitative methods. We then provide some practical messages for readers of this special issue. We hope our thoughts and impressions will further the dialogue among all researchers interested in furthering our understanding of sport and exercise behaviour.

“I Yam What I Yam” … The Power of the Self in Exercise Behavior

This article proposes that exercisers would be wise to consider self-related concepts when planning their physical activity experience. We review several key self-related terms, including self-schema, possible selves, and self-talk, and show how these components of the self can contribute to adherence to physical activity. Then, we provide strategies you can use to enhance your physical activity behavior by capitalizing on your physical activity-related schemas and developing appropriate possible selves. Finally, we link these concepts to your self-talk, including strategies to address negative self-talk that could hinder your exercise behavior.

Exploring relationships between the coach-initiated motivational climate and psychological coping skills over the high school American football season

This study investigated the relationship between the perceived coach-initiated motivational climate and psychological coping skills over a competitive high school football season as well as changes in perceptions of the climate over the season. Near the beginning (Time 1) and end of the season (Time 2), 101 players from five competitive high school American football programs completed the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 and the Athletic Coping Skill Inventory-28. A hierarchical linear regression revealed that Time 2 task-involving climate predicted Time 2 psychological coping skills when controlling for Time 1 psychological coping skills. Repeated measure multivariate analysis of variance results demonstrated that players perceived a decrease in the task-involving climate and an increase in the ego-involving climate over the course of the competitive season. These results add to the research on the positive role of a task-involving climate in the sport domain. Additionally, this research provides insight into how perceptions of the coach-initiated motivational climate can shift over the course of the competitive season.

Social Relationships and Promoting Physical Activity Among Older People

Social relationships are central to our health and well-being. Substantive research has shown that increasing social engagement and support for physical activity within families, communities, and neighbourhoods can promote physical activity. Evidence also suggests adults’ social lives change well into older adulthood, and these changes impact older adults’ behaviours. Effective physical activity interventions for older adults should integrate adult development theory with known facilitators of physical activity behaviour. Specifically, integrating appropriate social support networks, considering the role of ageism and ageist language, and paying careful attention to the social environment are examined as key components to interventions designed to increase physical activity in older adult populations.

The Influence of Friends and Psychosocial Factors on Physical Activity and Screen Time in Normal and Overweight Adolescents: A Mixed-Methods Analysis:

Background: Understanding factors that influence physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior is crucial to develop interventions to improve adolescents’ health-related behaviors. Purpose: To compare the influence of friends and psychosocial factors on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time (ST) between normal weight (NW) and overweight (OW) adolescents. Methods: In all, 21 OW and 21 NW adolescents wore accelerometers and completed questionnaires assessing MVPA, ST, and psychosocial variables. The MVPA and ST were assessed in nominated friends. Adolescents participated in focus groups assessing influence on activity behaviors. Results: There were no differences in MVPA; however, NW adolescents reported less ST than OW adolescents (8.9 vs 13.1 h/wk, P = .04). For OW adolescents, friends’ ST (P = .002) and psychosocial factors (P = .05) were associated with ST, while only PA self-efficacy was associated with MVPA. For NW adolescents, only friends’ MVPA (P = .04) was associated with self-reported PA. Exploratory analyses revealed differences among weight status and gender. Focus group discussions revealed that friends influenced both OW and NW adolescents’ MVPA; however, this appeared to be more apparent for NW males, while psychosocial factors played a role in both OW and NW females. The OW adolescents reported that friends were more of an influence on their ST levels, while NW adolescents indicated that their ST was not affected by their friends’ behaviors. Conclusions: Interventions to increase MVPA and/or decrease ST may need to be tailored for NW and OW adolescents.

Short pre‐conference report: Think Tank for critical social psychology of sport and exercise

On 9 June 2010, seven enthusiastic critical scholars gathered in a suite at the El Conquistador Hilton in Tucson, Arizona, for a day-long conversation about the challenges of doing interdisciplinary, critical and methodologically novel research in sport and exercise psychology. Vikki Krane and Diane Whaley organised the Think Tank. Initially, invitations were sent to about 20 scholars doing this type of research. All of the people invited to the Think Tank engage in cutting-edge research that often addresses novel topics, methods or presentation styles within sport and exercise psychology. While everyone responded noting their interest in, and support for, the Think Tank, travel schedules and reduced travel budgets impeded the ability of many to attend. Heather Barber (University of New Hampshire), Shannon Baird (University of Iowa), Deb Kendzierski (Villanova University), Vikki Krane (Bowling Green State University), Kerry McGannon (University of Iowa), Brett Smith (Loughborough University) and Diane Whaley (University of Virginia) were in attendance. Although we had an agenda, conversation tended to meander, zigzag and crisscross various themes and topics. Everyone was quite passionate and eager to share ideas, challenges, potential solutions and support for one another. We began with an overview of the rationale for why Vikki and Diane invited everyone to the Think Tank: our goal was for the Think Tank to be a forum in which we can support each other, consider potential collaborations, discuss research in progress and constructively approach the challenges we face. Vikki initiated conversation by telling her story, emphasising the feeling of being ‘academically homeless’ as an interdisciplinary researcher. Others in the group, also skirting the boundaries of multiple disciplines, were at times finding it hard to situate their work within sport and exercise psychology. As such, conversation focused on the challenges we face, such as finding accommodating publishing outlets, page limits that do not consider our need to write for multiple audiences within a single paper, having adequate formats for presenting our work at conferences and feeling that we tend to ‘preach to the choir’ in presentations advocating change or employing critical approaches. We spent four hours before lunch addressing these issues. Perhaps most notable was the different perspectives brought to the conversation; across us, our research included postmodern, post-structural, queer and feminist epistemologies; community engagement; and quantitative and qualitative methods. Discussion