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Examination of the Relationship Between Self‐Efficacy and Affect at Varying Levels of Aerobic Exercise Intensity
Author(s) -
Tate Andrew K.,
Petruzzello Steven J.,
Lox Curt L.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1995.tb01824.x
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , psychology , aerobic exercise , cycling , medicine , population , intensity (physics) , endocrinology , communication , physics , environmental health , archaeology , quantum mechanics , history
Although proposed as an explanation for increases in positive and decreases in negative affect, little evidence supports the notion of a stronger efficacy‐affect relationship as acute aerobic exercise intensity increases. Relationships between self‐efficacy (SE), positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were examined with respect to 3 randomly assigned conditions: (a) no exercise (control), (b) cycling at 55% VO 2max , and (c) cycling at 70% VO 2max . Twenty subjects (age = 22.6 years; M VO 2max = 47.8 ml · kg −1 · min −1 ) participated in each. Preexercise SE predicted in‐task NA and postexercise PA in the 55% condition and postexercise PA in the 70% condition ( ps < .05). Although SE significantly increased from pre‐ to postexercise, in‐task affect failed to predict these increases in SE. These data suggest that in a fit college‐aged population, a stronger reciprocal relationship between preexercise SE, in‐task affect, and postexercise SE does not exist with increasing levels of exercise intensity. Contrary to self‐efficacy theory, no evidence was found for a reciprocal relationship. However, the relationship between efficacy and affect was such that when collapsed across conditions and time, subjects with higher SE scores reported lower NA ( p < .05).