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Self‐Presentational Cognitions for Exercise in Female Adolescents
Author(s) -
Cumming Jennifer,
ThøgersenNtoumani Cecilie
Publication year - 2011
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.1559-1816.2010.00720.x
Subject(s) - psychology , presentational and representational acting , psychological intervention , anxiety , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , philosophy , aesthetics
The study's main purpose was to clarify the role of a range of self‐presentational cognitions in the relationship between social physique anxiety and exercise behavior. Female participants ( N = 331; M age = 14.5 years) reported their exercise frequency and completed measures of self‐presentation. Exercise frequency was positively predicted by self‐presentational efficacy expectations (SPEE) and self‐presentational outcome value (SPOV). Moreover, SPEE moderated the relationship between social physique anxiety (SPA) and exercise frequency. SPA was negatively related to exercise frequency when SPEE was high, but positively related to exercise frequency when SPEE was low. Therefore, interventions designed to increase exercise frequency among adolescent girls should include strategies that both reduce SPA and enhance SPEE and SPOV.