What psychological factors relate to physical activity in urban Asians

What is it about?

Physical activity is important for health and wellbeing. However, most people are not adequately active to gain benefits. Although various factors are proposed to impact how active people are psychological factors are often key. However, studies that examine such factors are scarce in Asia. In this study we looked into the psychological factors that are likely to be correlated with physical activity of urban Asians in Singapore. For this we used data from more than 700 people. Physical activity was measured objectively and psychological factors were measured via well-established questionnaires. We found that when people had more external reasons (e.g., rewards) to be active and when people perceived more daily life barriers (e.g., time) to activity they clocked in about 13 minutes less physical activity per week, respectively. That makes sense and has also been reported in other populations. We also discovered that social support was related to less activity in younger people which might be surprising. However, it might be that younger people might perceive social support as prescriptive (e.g., parents nag) and are hence not inclined to follow encouragement.

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Why is it important?

This work is important as it is the first on the Asian continent that looked in-depth into the psychological factors that are likely to impact on people's decision to be active. Such work has implication for intervention development. For example, urban Asians might be pointed to the intrinsic benefits of physical activity which will likely lead to more sustainable behaviour change. Also, activities that can be built into daily routines might be crucial as people are generally time poor.

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