Does expecting to enjoy an exercise class predict whether you actually attend?

Details

Previous research links positive affect with higher physical activity levels. Building on that relationship, a newer approach suggests that anticipating emotional responses, including specific emotions, may also matter for physical activity participation. This study focused on anticipated enjoyment and examined its relationship with intention and exercise class attendance in a prospective design with three measurement occasions.

Researchers recruited 363 adults from weekly exercise classes in Germany; their mean age was 32.28 years (SD = 14.11). Between two weekly classes, participants were sent questionnaires about their anticipated enjoyment of the next class and their intention to attend it. Attendance at that next class was then assessed. To examine continued class participation, researchers also assessed attendance at five exercise classes after recruitment.

Logistic regression analyses showed that anticipated enjoyment was related to class attendance, but this association was not statistically significant when intention was added as an additional predictor. Intention was a significant statistical mediator of the relationship between anticipated enjoyment and attendance. However, anticipated enjoyment was not a significant moderator of the relationship between intention and attendance.

Linear regression analyses showed that anticipated enjoyment was significantly related to continued class participation, but this association also became non-significant when intention was added as an additional predictor. The results suggest that anticipated enjoyment is not directly related to exercise participation, but is associated with intention, which predicts exercising.

The authors concluded that this pattern is consistent with previous theoretical models: anticipated enjoyment is related to intention, which in turn predicts exercising. They recommended that future research include control variables to examine the impact of anticipated enjoyment on intention and physical activity behavior.