A typology of stages of adherence to exercise behavior: A cluster analysis

The aim of the study was to report the results of a cluster analysis of cur rent exercise behavior and of intention to exercise in the next year. A sam ple of 22,286 individuals was recruited over 4 successive 3-month periods. Each individual was asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire ass essing exercise behavior in the last 3 months and intention, attitudes, per ceived social norms, and perceived behavioral control with respect to exerc ising in the coming year. The Beale's pseudo F statistic clearly suggests t hat there are 4 stages of adherence to exercise: unconcerned, ambivalent, o ptimistic, and active. Finally, MANOVAs and univariate tests indicated that the 4 clusters differed in attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavi oral control (p < .0001). These results support the appropriateness of comb ining intention and behavior to identify stages of adherence to exercise.