Improving Physical Activity Levels and Psychological Variables on University Students in the Contemplation Stage

Cristina Corella, Javier Zaragoza, José Antonio Julián, Víctor Hugo Rodríguez-Ontiveros, Carlos Tomás Medrano, Inmaculada Plaza and Alberto Abarca-Sos
Additional contact information
Cristina Corella: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Javier Zaragoza: Centre for the Promotion of Physical Activity and Health (CAPAS-City), University of Zaragoza, 22001 Huesca, Spain
José Antonio Julián: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Víctor Hugo Rodríguez-Ontiveros: Polytechnic School of Teruel, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Carlos Tomás Medrano: Polytechnic School of Teruel, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Inmaculada Plaza: Polytechnic School of Teruel, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Alberto Abarca-Sos: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a physical activity intervention, based on self-determination theory and the transtheoretical model, on university students in the contemplation stage. Participants: 42 students, in the contemplation stage at baseline, were randomly assigned to an experimental group (16 women, 2 men; M age = 19.1 ± 1.15) and a control group (18 women, 2 men; M age = 20.1 ± 5.7). Methods: Physical activity was measured at different moments by accelerometry. Other cognitive variables were measured by self-reported scales. Results: We did not find any significant increases in students’ physical activity in favor of the intervention group. Intragroup analyses indicate that the intervention has an effect on physical activity (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity), basic psychological needs, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Conclusions: Results partially demonstrate that applying social cognitive theories seems to be effective in improving physical activity and cognitive variables in university students in the contemplation stage

Keywords: university students; physical activity; intervention; self-determination theory; transtheoretical model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4368/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4368/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:22:p:4368-:d:285081

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().