Minding the Gap: Understanding changes in momentary intentions and physical activity behaviours during late adolescence using ecological momentary assessment

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The construct of intention continues to be an important correlate and predictor of physical activity; however, a substantial intention behaviour gap continues to exist. Little literature has examined this gap on a micro-temporal scale, and none have addressed the adolescent population. PURPOSE: The purpose of this thesis is to 1) examine whether there are variations in daily and within day intentions to be physically active in the adolescent population, and 2) whether the intention -physical activity gap is reduced when assessing intention and behaviour on a micro-temporal scale using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). METHODS: This thesis sample included 193 grade 11 students from a large school board in Southern Ontario. Participants responded to 5 EMA prompts for 7 days on their smartphones and wore accelerometers for the duration of the study. Each EMA prompt included a brief questionnaire assessing participant intentions to engage in physical activity. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was used to determine variability in intentions and descriptive analyses were used to examine the intention - behaviour gap. RESULTS: A mixed-effects logistic regression did not indicate differences in intentions between days of the week (coef. = -0.07 SE: 0.07, p=.27) but did indicate that likelihood of reporting intentions significantly decreases over the course of the day (coef. = -.479 SE=.05, p<.01). For daily intentions and physical activity, 89% of daily intenders engaged in subsequent physical activity while 46% of within day intenders engaged in subsequent physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that there is some variation in intentions and that a micro-temporal time scale measurement serves to reduce the intention - behaviour gap. This adds to our understanding of the relationship between intentions and physical activity. In better understanding this relationship, we can begin to guide interventions that bridge the gap between intentions and physical activity in the adolescent population.