Understanding action control of physical activity among mothers with young children

ABSTRACT

Mothers with young children (MYC) are a critical target for physical activity (PA) promotion. Current research on the correlates of PA during early motherhood has generally considered intention as the primary determinant of behaviour, yet the intention-behaviour relationship is often modest. The purpose of this paper was to apply a framework designed to evaluate the intention-behaviour gap, known as multi-process action control (M-PAC), to understand PA among MYC. A community sample of 160 mothers (mean age 34.48; SD = 4.20) of at least one child under five completed M-PAC measures of reflective (instrumental attitude, affective attitude, self-efficacy), regulatory (planning), and reflexive (automaticity, identity) processes as well as intention to engage in PA and behaviour at public health guidelines (150 min/week of moderate or higher intensity). Four intention-behaviour profiles emerged: (a) non-intenders who were not active (21%; n = 34), (b) unsuccessful intenders who failed to perform PA (25%; n = 40), (c) successful intenders who were active (45%; n = 72) and (d) non-intenders who achieved PA (9%; n = 14). A discriminant function analysis [χ²(18) = 63.84, p<0.001; canonical r = .54] showed that planning (r = .67), affective attitude (r = .58), and instrumental attitude (r = .57) distinguished between non-active non-intenders and successful intenders but only self-efficacy (r = .73), habit (r = .67), and identity (r = .65) could predict the intention-behaviour gap. The majority of MYC in this sample had positive PA intentions, yet over a third had a discordant intention-behaviour profile. Interventions focused on increasing self-efficacy and fostering the reflexive processes of habit and identity may be critical to translating intentions into action among this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Mothers
• action control
• self-efficacy
• habit
• identity

Acknowledgements

We thank Alison Quinlan for her efforts with data collection.

Disclosure statement

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