The association between implicit attitudes toward physical activity and physical activity behaviour: a systematic review and correlational meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

As a result of recent calls to attend to the implicit processes that regulate health behaviours, the study of implicit attitudes and physical activity behaviour has grown rapidly in the past decade. The aim of this study was to summarise existing evidence on the extent to which implicit attitudes toward physical activity are associated with physical activity behaviour. A systematic literature review was performed to retrieve studies reporting both a measure of implicit attitudes and physical activity. For the meta-analysis, effect size (Pearson’s r) were extracted from eligible studies or retrieved from authors. A total of 26 independent studies, and 55 effect sizes, were eligible. There was a small, significant, and positive correlation between implicit attitudes and physical activity, a finding replicated across multiple meta-analytical strategies with sensitivity analyses applied. This association was not significantly moderated by study design or objective, participants’ age or other characteristics, or measures of implicit attitudes or physical activity. This meta-analysis provides evidence that implicit attitudes toward physical activity are positively associated with physical activity in adults to a small degree.

KEYWORDS:

• Automatic evaluations
• dual-processes
• non-conscious
• exercise
• motivation

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thanks the Drs Franzisca Antoniewicz, Carolin Muschalik, Tanya Berry, Julie Boiché, Matthias Bluemke, Austin Baldwin and Ralph Brand for providing us the necessary information for the meta-analysis. PB is supported by Université du Québec à Montréal, Institut Universitaire de Santé Mentale de Montréal and by a salary award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Guillaume Chevance http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8926-4816

Paquito Bernard http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2180-9135

Pier Eric Chamberland http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4619-3675

Amanda Rebar http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3164-993X

Notes

1 We used the term implicit here knowingly that there is no consensus yet in the literature regarding terminology. The term ‘implicit’ can also refer to other terms like: type-1 processes, associative, automatic, impulsive; while the term ‘explicit’ refers to: type-2 processes, propositional, controlled, reflective. Although we acknowledge the controversy, this debate of terminology is not within the scope of this review and will not be further discussed.