Social-cognitive theories for predicting physical activity behaviours of employed women with and without young children

Abstract

Chronic disease interventions for women have been understudied in the workplace domain. Understanding the role of cognitions in individual behaviour can help motivate change and suggest directions for achieving improvements in health. The purpose of this study was to identify psychosocial constructs and social-cognitive theories [e.g. Transtheoretical model (TTM), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)] that are most salient for explaining physical activity behaviour among employed women (n = 1183). Demographic information, and social-cognitive measures related to physical activity, intention and behaviours (e.g. stage of change, energy expenditure) were assessed. A series of multiple regression analyses predicting intention, energy expenditure and stage of change were conducted separately for: (1) women with young children (n = 302), and (2) women without young children (n = 881) for each of the respective social-cognitive theories. Although taken as a whole the results were relatively similar between the two sub-groups of women for each of the socio-cognitive theories examined in this study, differences were observed in the relative contributions of the theoretical constructs between the two sub-groups. Results also indicate that self-efficacy and intention were the strongest predictors of behaviour among both women with and without young children. The explained variances (R²) for the theories examined in this study for different sub-groups ranged from 16 to 60%, generally reflecting what has been reported in other studies within the physical activity domain. The results of this study could be useful in guiding future research and in designing physical activity intervention programs for these specific population groups. Integrating approaches of individual lifestyle change while addressing issues related to creating supportive environments for women in various life stages is a suggested strategy for future work in this area.

Keywords:

• chronic disease interventions
• employed women
• life stage
• social-cognitive theories
• physical activity
• children

Acknowledgements

RCP is supported by Salary Awards from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (Health Scholar) and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (Applied Public Health Chair Program). We would like to acknowledge Nandini Karunamuni for her assistance on the project and preparation of this manuscript.

Notes

1. To account for potential differences among the selected participants, preliminary analyses were conducted using two methods for each regression: (1) using a ‘pairwise’ analysis (e.g. omitting cases that do not have data on the dependent variable used); and (2) a listwise deletion analysis (e.g. omitting cases that do not have data on any of the variables tested). Since the participants who completed measures on all three periods did not differ in any of the demographic characteristics from the participants that did not have complete information, the pairwise data were reported to account for the larger N's in each analysis which increases the generalisabiltiy of the results to the population.

2. While the literature is not consistent with specifying or defining the age group of children in the context of balancing roles as a parent, there is evidence indicating that women with children, particularly those with young/small children (e.g. preschool; grade school) experience challenges to achieving optimal physical activity levels (Gjerdingen et al., 2000; Eyler et al., 1998; Miller, 2002). Furthermore, individuals 13 years and older, are generally considered as ‘youth’ or ‘adolescents,’ as noted in other research (Beaulieu, Duclos, Fortin & Rouleau, 2005). Thus, our study used under the age of 13 as a cut-point for defining young children.