Pathways of cognitive and affective attitude influencing leisure-time physical activity: based on an integrated model

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to determine the direct and indirect effects of cognitive and affective attitudes on leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) behaviour in an integrated model constructed based on the theory of planned behaviour and the behavioural affective associations model. A total of 2100 undergraduate students completed the validated measures of cognitive attitude, affective attitude, intention, and leisure-time MVPA. Structure equation modelling and two mediation analyses were conducted to address the research questions. Cognitive attitude influenced leisure-time MVPA through three indirect pathways: cognitive attitude→affective attitude→MVPA, cognitive attitude→intention→MVPA, cognitive attitude→affective attitude→intention→MVPA. Affective attitude influenced leisure-time MVPA through one direct pathway and one indirect pathway: affective attitude→intention→MVPA. In addition, this study showed that cognitive attitude had similar total effects on leisure-time MVPA with affective attitude. These findings imply that (a) the effects of cognitive attitude on PA behaviour tend to be more complicated and more indirect than affective attitude. (b) Cognitive attitude should be valued at the same level as affective attitude in PA behaviour change because of its total effect size and its role of serving as an important building block of PA behaviour change.

KEYWORDS:

• Affective associations
• exercise attitude
• affective response
• instrumental attitude

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.