Can Positive Affective Variables Mediate Intervention Effects on Physical Activity? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Well-developed theories are necessary to guide the public in increasing physical activity (PA) and promoting physical health. The role of positive affective variables (PAVs) in exercise is gaining more attention, but none of the literature has provided a systematic review and quantitative analysis of its mediating role. Therefore, the purposes of this study are (1) to systematically review studies of PA interventions, that use PAVs as the mediating variables, in order to evaluate and provide narrative summaries of these studies; (2) to statistically synthesize evidence for the mechanism of the effects of PAVs on PA outcomes. To conduct an extensive search, a PRISMA-compliant protocol was completed, and five electronic databases had been searched by 1 April 2020. We used a two-stage structural equation modeling (TSSEM) analysis approach to test how interventions trigger the critical PA change process to influence outcomes. The search strategy generated 1,732 papers potentially relevant to this study; forty of these studies met the data extraction criteria for meta-analytic mediation analysis. The path coefficient from intervention to PAV a = 0.26 (95% CI = 0.08 to 0.44), the path coefficient from PAV to PA b = 0.21 (95% CI = 0.13 to 0.28), and the direct effect from intervention to PA is also significant (c = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.26). In addition, the indirect effect of intervention on PA via PAV was statistically significant (c' = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.10). This reveals that PAVs partially mediate the relationship between interventions and PA. Our study is the first to systematically summarize the effects of experimental studies to increase PA through PAVs. It is highly recommended to make future interventions more innovative and to target the PAVs as mediators with higher fidelity.

Did You Enjoy It? The Role of Intensity-Trait Preference/Tolerance in Basic Psychological Needs and Exercise Enjoyment

“…As reported in literature, enjoyment can be understood as an experience that reflects generalized feelings of pleasure, liking, and satisfaction, and may reflect an intrinsically motivational factor for participation in physical activity ( Moore et al, 2009 ; Nielsen et al, 2014 ). In several physical activity related contexts, enjoyment has presented positive associations with intention and adherence, as is the case for sports ( Nielsen et al, 2014 ; Granero-Gallegos et al, 2017 ; Teixeira et al, 2019 ), physical education ( Barr-Anderson et al, 2008 ; Gardner et al, 2017 ; Fin et al, 2019 ), exercise ( Chen et al, 2020 ; Klos et al, 2020 ; Rodrigues et al, 2020 ), and leisure-time physical activity ( Gardner et al, 2017 ).…”

“…In these multifactorial exercising interactions, promoting the dynamics that aim at enhancing the quality of the individual’s subjective experience can be challenging. For that matter, enjoyment was highlighted as a significant determinant of intention to continue and exercise adherence ( Nielsen et al, 2014 ; Calder et al, 2020 ; Chen et al, 2020 ). However, due to the intrinsic characteristics of the activities offered in health clubs, promoting exercisers enjoyment may not be easy.…”

A Short Version of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties

“…Specifically, regarding the maintenance of PA, researchers emphasize the role of affective processes [10][11][12]. Notably, there is a large volume of studies describing the critical role of enjoyment in PA [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Despite extensive research demonstrating the importance of PA enjoyment, to date, however, there has been little consensus on what PA enjoyment actually is [20].…”

What Intervention Techniques Are Effective in Changing Positive Affective Variables and Physical Activity? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Following the upward spiral theory of lifestyle change, motivation is significantly associated with positive affects experienced during healthy behaviors, and motivational salience subconsciously guides attention to these behaviors and decisions to repeat them (van Cappellen et al, 2018 ). Further, a recent meta-analysis emphasized that the PAV emerges as a significant mediator between intervention and PA outcomes (Chen et al, 2020 ). Based on these neuroscientific, theoretical, and empirical fundamentals, enhancing PAVs is more likely to facilitate physical activity than activities that rely primarily on extrinsic motivation, such as those expected to improve health and well-being (Nielsen et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Besides, we desired to exclude negative affective variables from this study (Egloff, 1998 ; Reich et al, 2001 ). The reasons were: (1) Reich et al ( 2001 ) conducted two experiments based on the two-factor model and the bipolar model, which showed that the cognitively more complex participants reported the mutual independence of positive and negative affect, while those with simpler cognitions reported the polarity of positive and negative affect, which meant that positive and negative affects could be differentiated for exploration; (2) as we described in the previous paragraph, the approach-avoidance distinction was also applicable in the affective variables; (3) Chen et al ( 2020 ) distinguished between positive and negative affective variables and demonstrated the significant mediating role of PAVs in the PA intervention. Overall, we would like to implement a more nuanced meta-analysis to understand how PAVs and PA can be manipulated in healthy populations.…”