COMPETING PERSONAL GOALS AND EXERCISE BEHAVIOR

Research on the determinants of exercise behaviour has not assessed th e role of personal goals which may be in conflict with exercising. A c ross-sectional study showed that 312 nonexercisers, 466 people who exe rcised once or twice a week, and 202 people who exercised at the norm of ar least three times a week differed significantly with respect to the number of important personal goals expected to be hampered by exer cising at the norm. To be specific, the number of competing activities in the home was higher for the sedentary group than for those who exe rcised. Further, those who exercised at the norm reported fewer compet ing social activities than all other subjects and fewer competing self -developmental activities than the nonexercisers. Scores on the scale for activities outside the home did not differ significantly among the three groups. II is argued that any theoretical model of exercise beh aviour should take into account the influence of competing personal go als on the initiation and continuation of exercise during leisure lime .