Examining the role of anticipated enjoyment and intention in predicting attendance in exercise classes.

BACKGROUND

A large body of research shows that positive affect is related to higher physical activity levels. Building on this relation, a more novel approach suggests that also the anticipation of affective responses or more specific anticipated emotions may play a role for physical activity participation. Focusing on a specific emotion, the purpose of this study was to examine the relation between anticipated enjoyment, intention and exercise class attendance in a prospective design with three measurement occasions.

METHODS

In total, 363 adults ( = 32.28,  = 14.11) were recruited from weekly exercise classes in Germany. Questionnaires for anticipated enjoyment and intention in relation to the next exercise class were sent to the participants in between two weekly exercise classes and the attendance of the next exercise class was subsequently assessed. Moreover, the maintenance of exercise classes was examined by assessing the attendance of five exercise classes after recruitment.

RESULTS

Logistic regression analyses showed that anticipated enjoyment was related to exercise class attendance, but this effect was non-significant when intention was added as an additional predictor. While intention was a significant mediator of the relation between anticipated enjoyment and exercise class attendance, anticipated enjoyment was not a significant moderator of the relation between intention and exercise class attendance. Linear regression analyses yielded that anticipated enjoyment was significantly related to exercise class maintenance, but this effect was non-significant again when intention was added as an additional predictor. The results suggest that anticipated enjoyment is not directly related to exercise participation but associated with intention which is a predictor of exercising.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that in line with previous theoretical models, anticipated enjoyment is related to intention which, in turn, is a predictor of exercising. Future research should include control variables to examine the impact of anticipated enjoyment on intention and physical activity behavior.