AN ATTRIBUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADULTS EXERCISE BEHAVIOR

The present study examined attributional patterns for successful and u nsuccessful exercise behavior change in a sample of African American a dults. Subjects typically reported the primary causes of successful ex ercise change to be of a motivational and personal nature, whereas att ributions for unsuccessful change were primarily concerned with time m anagement. Multivariate analyses indicated successes being attributed to internal, stable, and personally controllable causes, and failures to internal, unstable, and personally controllable causes. Stable attr ibutions in the successful group were significantly correlated with ex pectations for continued maintenance, and unstable attributions were s ignificantly related with expectations for future behavior change in t he unsuccessful group. The findings are discussed with respect to attr ibutional approaches to improving exercise and health behavior change.