Does exercise environment enhance the psychological benefits of exercise for women?

Abstract

Two experiments examined the psychological benefits of exercise environment. In Experiment 1, 128 female college students were assigned to 1 of 3 laboratory conditions that differed only in with whom they were exercising; in Experiment 2, 88 students were assigned to 1 of 4 walking conditions that differed in the environment (i.e., indoors vs. outdoors) and whom they were with. Before and after exercise, participants completed several mood and enjoyment measures. Participants in Experiment 1 were most calm when exercising alone than with others, and participants in Experiment 2 found the experience most enjoyable if outdoors. Our findings suggest that perceived enjoyment and outdoor exercise may account for some of the psychological benefits of exercise for women.

Impact of Exercise Partner Attractiveness on Mood, Enjoyment, and Exertion

“…It may be worthwhile to note that enjoyment in most prior studies was measured when exercising with a friend, while the current study involved exercising with a stranger. Despite contradictory findings regarding enjoyment, past research has indicated that participants felt the most calm when exercising alone than with a partner (12,13). These findings, as well as those of the current study, suggest that individuals may feel more at ease when there are no immediate social standards for comparison.…”

“…This suggests that when comparing themselves to an unattractive female, participants may feel less threatened than when comparing themselves to an attractive female. Previous research have not found differences in tension when exercising alone versus with a partner (11)(12)(13), however one study has found that female pairs reported greater exertion than mixed pairs while exercising (10). This suggests that perhaps people feel more distracted or less competitive in mixed pairs.…”

A Review and Meta-Analysis of Affective Judgments and Physical Activity in Adult Populations

“…Five studies manipulated the single exposure of environmental physical activity factors in order to evaluate their effect on AJ [18,120,126,128,135]. Plante et al have demonstrated that outdoor exercise is considered higher in AJ than exercising indoors [128], but AJ was not affected by the presence or absence of friends [126].…”

“…The 20 experimental studies examined either different types of interventions on physical activity behavior where an AJ construct was included as a potential mediator or specific short-term manipulations of AJ [18,[120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135] (see Table 3). In terms of quality rating, eight studies were identified as low quality, ten were judged to be of moderate quality, and two were scored as high quality [134,136].…”

Effects of Perceived Fitness Level of Exercise Partner on Intensity of Exertion

“…Although research on the many benefits of exercise is abundant, there is surprisingly little research on the psychological and behavioral effects of exercising with others. The limited available research examining social exercise has demonstrated health and mood advantages and disadvantages of exercising with a partner (Plante et al, 2001;2003).…”