Longitudinal Effects of Personality on Physical Activity Among College Students: Examining Executive Function as a Potential Moderator

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between personality and physical activity, with a specific focus on whether executive function moderates this relationship. Methods One hundred twenty-six young adults provided complete data at baseline and the five-month follow-up assessment. Executive function was assessed via the parametric Go/No-Go computer task; outcome measures of parametric Go/No-Go were mean reaction time and percent of correct target detection across executive function tasks (simple rule and repeating rule). Personality and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were assessed via validated questionnaires; one-week test-retest was established on a random sample of the participants, with pedometry employed in the subsample. Results Individuals with a higher baseline conscientiousness personality type had greater five-month follow-up moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (β = 18.5; 95% confidence interval: 5.3, 31.7; p = .006). There was no evidence of an interaction effect for personality trait and executive function on five-month follow-up moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Conclusion The personality trait conscientiousness was associated with greater moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. However, there was no evidence to suggest that executive function moderates the role between personality and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Thus, if confirmed by future work, personality may exert its effects on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity independent of executive function level.

The prospective association between the Five Factor personality model with health behaviors and health behavior clusters

“…The study design was a prospective study. Details on the study design can also be found in our previous work ( Joyner & Loprinzi, 2018 ), which evaluated the association between personality and physical activity and whether executive function moderated this relationship. In the present paper, we extend these previous findings by evaluating a multitude of additional collected variables, including other behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, sleep, alcohol).…”

“…As described elsewhere ( Joyner & Loprinzi, 2018 ), recruitment of individuals included 200 undergraduate and graduate students from a university in the South of the United States for baseline assessments. Participants were recruited via a convenience-based sampling approach.…”

“…Research studies have examined the associations between personality and these individual health behaviors ( Booth-Kewley & Vickers, 1994 ). Indeed, we previously demonstrated that the personality trait consciousness was positively associated with physical activity behavior ( Joyner & Loprinzi, 2018 ). Less research has evaluated the association between personality and multibehavior as well as the clustering of health behaviors ( Raynor & Levine, 2009 ).…”

“…Less research has evaluated the association between personality and multibehavior as well as the clustering of health behaviors ( Raynor & Levine, 2009 ). Thus, to extend our previous findings that just looked at a single outcome behavior ( Joyner & Loprinzi, 2018 ), herein we utilize data from our previous work to explore the effects of personality on multibehaviors and behavioral clustering. Evaluating the concurrent adoption of multiple behaviors (multibehavior) and behavioral clustering is important, because as noted above, these behavioral patterns may have a unique influence on health, when compared to single behaviors in isolation.…”

Peer Review #1 of "The effect of long-term volleyball training on the level of somatic parameters of female volleyball players in various age categories (v0.1)"

“…Regular and adequate training since childhood should not only lead to the development of fitness and motor performance, but also to the development of a series of personal traits of the individual (Kahlin et al, 2016;Joyner & Loprinzi, 2018). Many of those personal traits are considered to be the predictor for adherence to physical activity (Annesi, 2004).…”