The goal of this research is to utilize a transdisciplinary framework to guide the selection of putative moderators of the effectiveness of an intervention to promote physical activity behavior adoption and maintenance in the context of a randomized controlled intervention trial. Effective interventions to increase physical activity are sorely needed, and one barrier to the identification and development of such interventions is the lack of research targeted at understanding both the mechanisms of intervention efficacy and for whom particular interventions are effective. The purpose of this paper is to outline our transdisciplinary approach to understanding individual differences in the effectiveness of a previously successful exercise promotion intervention. We explain the rationale for and operationalization of our framework, characteristics of the study to which we apply the framework, and planned analyses. By embracing a transdisciplinary orientation for individual differences important in the prediction of physical activity (spanning molecular approaches, animal models, human laboratory models, and social psychological models), we hope to have a better understanding of characteristics of individuals that are important in the adoption and maintenance of physical activity. KeywordsPhysical Activity; Exercise; Transdisciplinary; Genetic; COSTRIDE; Affect; Motivation Correspondence to: Angela D. Bryan. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPsychol Sport Exerc. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 January 1. It is well known that regular physical activity has enormous health benefits and that sedentary lifestyle leads to increased morbidity and mortality (USDHHS, 2008). Yet an astounding number of individuals remain sedentary (e.g., Pate et al., 1995;Penedo & Dahn, 2005). Recent reports show that less than half of U.S. adults self-report engaging in regular leisure-time physical activity (Macera et al., 2005) while a study using accelerometeracquired data showed that less than 5% of adults met physical activity recommendation guidelines (Troiano et al., 2008). The development of successful physical activity promotion interventions is thus crucially important.At the outset, we acknowledge that there are multiple levels that impinge on energy balance, broadly defined, from individual difference factors to factors existing outside of the person including real and perceived social support (Courneya, Plotnikoff, Hotz, & Birkett, 2000), cultural norms (King, Toobert et al., 2006;, the built environment , the availability ...

The present study compared the level of conduct problems at age 17 in a large, non-clinical sample of adopted participants placed in infancy and children in non-adoptive families matched to the adoptive families on demographic characteristics. Higher levels of adolescent and parent adoption satisfaction were associated with lower levels of conduct problems. Gender by adoption status interactions were not significant. However, female adopted participants had higher levels of conduct problems than female non-adopted participants, whereas male adopted and non-adopted participants had similar levels of conduct problems. In the overall sample, differences between adopted and matched control participants on all conduct problem measures were nonsignificant.

Affective responses to physical activity are assumed to play a role in exercise initiation and maintenance. The Physical Activity Affect Scale measures four dimensions of an individual's affective response to exercise. Group differences in the interpretation of scale items can impact the interpretability of mean differences, underscoring the need to examine whether measurement structure holds across groups (e.g., active vs. non-active). In the current study, physically active (n = 158) and nonactive (n = 179) participants exercised for 30 min; affect was assessed during exercise (i.e., 20 min). Tests of measurement invariance were conducted in a confirmatory factor analytic framework. There was good evidence for measurement invariance of the Physical Activity Affect Scale across active and non-active groups, with a single non-invariant factor loading, invariance in item intercepts, and invariance in item uniquenesses, although patterns of factor covariances and means differed across groups. Recommendations and implications of research are provided.

Background A transdisciplinary approach incorporating biological, psychological, behavioral, and genetic factors was taken to better identify proposed moderators of the effectiveness of an intervention to increase physical activity. This paper illustrates how theory-based individual difference variables can be integrated into a complex randomized controlled trial. The transdisciplinary framework guiding the selection of moderators, the COSTRIDE intervention study and sample, and the relationships among baseline variables are provided. Methods Participants were non-active individuals randomly assigned to either the STRIDE exercise or health-and-wellness contact control condition. Results Structural equation modeling was utilized to demonstrate that relationships among baseline variables confirm hypothesized relationships in the transdisciplinary framework. Conclusions Preliminary data from COSTRIDE suggest that interventions among sedentary individuals may be more effective if a broader range of factors influencing physical activity are considered. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT01091857

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