Department of Health Psychology, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany.
Psychol Health. 2010 Sep;25(7):873-87. doi: 10.1080/08870440902939857.
This study examines age-differential association patterns between intentions, planning and physical activity in young and middle-aged individuals. The effectiveness of planning to bridge the intention-behaviour gap is assumed to increase with advancing age. We explore the use of behaviour change strategies that include selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) as underlying mechanisms for age differences.
In N = 265 employees of a national railway company (aged 19-64 years), intentions, planning, SOC strategy use and physical activity were assessed at baseline (Time 1) and again 1 month later (Time 2). Hypotheses were tested in two different path models.
Age moderates the extent to which planning mediates the intention-behaviour relation due to an increasing strength of the planning-behaviour link. As a possible psychological mechanism for these age differences, we identified SOC strategy use as a mediator of the age by planning interaction effect on physical activity.
These findings suggest differential mechanisms in behaviour regulation in young and middle-aged individuals.
本研究考察了年轻人和中年人意图、计划与身体活动之间的年龄差异关联模式。假设计划在弥补意图与行为之间差距方面的效果会随着年龄的增长而增强。我们探讨了将选择、优化和补偿（SOC）等行为改变策略作为年龄差异的潜在机制。
在国家铁路公司的 265 名员工（年龄 19-64 岁）中，在基线（第 1 次时间点）和 1 个月后（第 2 次时间点）评估了意图、计划、SOC 策略使用和身体活动。在两个不同的路径模型中检验了假设。
由于计划与行为之间的联系越来越紧密，年龄调节了计划在意图与行为关系中中介的程度。作为这些年龄差异的可能心理机制，我们发现 SOC 策略使用作为计划对身体活动的年龄交互效应的中介。
这些发现表明，年轻人和中年人在行为调节方面存在不同的机制。
