How we are misinterpreting physical activity intention – behavior relations and what to do about it

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dc.contributor.authorRebar, Amanda L.
dc.contributor.authorRhodes, Ryan E.
dc.contributor.authorGardner, Benjamin
dc.date.accessioned2020-11-30T22:34:05Z
dc.date.available2020-11-30T22:34:05Z
dc.date.copyright2019en_US
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractBackground Studies of the physical activity intention-behavior gap, and factors that may moderate the gap (e.g., habit, perceived behavioral control), can inform physical activity promotion efforts. Yet, these studies typically apply linear modeling procedures, and so conclusions rely on linearity and homoscedasticity assumptions, which may not hold. Methods We modelled and plotted physical activity intention-behavior associations and the moderation effects of habit using simulated data based on (a) normal distributions with no shared variance, (b) correlated parameters with normal distribution, and (c) realistically correlated and non-normally distributed parameters. Results In the uncorrelated and correlated normal distribution datasets, no violations were unmet, and the moderation effects applied across the entire data range. However, because in the realistic dataset, few people who engaged in physical activity behavior had low intention scores, the intention-behavior association was non-linear, resulting in inflated linear moderation estimations of habit. This finding was replicated when tested with intention-behavior moderation of perceived behavioral control. Conclusions Comparisons of the three scenarios illustrated how an identical correlation coefficient may mask different types of intention-behavior association and moderation effects. These findings highlight the risk of misinterpreting tests of the intention-behavior gap and its moderators for physical activity due to unfounded statistical assumptions. The previously well-documented moderating effects of habit, whereby the impact of intention on behavior weakens as habit strength increases, may be based on statistical byproducts of unmet model assumptions.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipALR is supported by funds from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. RER is supported by funds from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. No funding body had a role in the design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of the data or in writing the manuscripten_US
dc.identifier.citationRebar, A. L., Rhodes, R. E., & Gardner, B. (2019). How we are misinterpreting physical activity intention – behavior relations and what to do about it. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0829-yen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0829-y
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/12412
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activityen_US
dc.subjectHabit
dc.subjectAssumption testing
dc.subjectMotivation
dc.subjectSimulation
dc.subjectExercise
dc.subjectGoals
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education
dc.titleHow we are misinterpreting physical activity intention – behavior relations and what to do about iten_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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