What you know makes a difference: Physicaludactivity maintenance and adherence of collegiateudstudents

摘要

For decades, exercise psychology researchers dismissed health/exercise knowledge as auddeterminant of physical activity (PA). We sought to overturn this misconception, showing thatudpsychological theory may serve as a basis for informing physical education curriculum. Basedudon social cognitive and self-determined motivation theories, we examined health/exerciseudknowledge as a determinant of collegiate students’ PA maintenance (i.e., ≥ 6 months of regularudPA involvement); adherence to United States Department of Health and Human Servicesud(USDHHS) 2008 PA guidelines; and PA types (i.e., aerobic, weight training). Collegiate studentsud(n = 231) provided data via online survey. ANOVA analyses revealed that knowledge scoresuddifferentiated: a) participants in the maintenance stage from non-active participants (mediumudeffect size); b) guideline adherents from non-adherents (medium-large effect size); and c)udengagement in both PA types compared to only aerobic (large effect size). Males reportedudsignificantly higher perceived knowledge than females (medium-large effect size) though actualudscores were not significantly different. This study provided evidence that knowledge is relevantudto collegiate students’ PA. Future research may aid physical educators in determiningudknowledge types, based on psychological theory, that increase PA maintenance/adherence.