Apathy, intentions, and affective attitudes in physical activity behavior

BackgroundGreater behavioral apathy has been shown to be associated with lower engagement in physical activity. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain overlooked and poorly understood. Intentions, explicit attitudes, and approach-avoidance tendencies toward physical activity may play a central role in the relationship, given their strong links to motivation and physical activity. MethodsAn online study was conducted in 365 participants aged 54{+/-}18 years. All measures were assessed using questionnaires, except approach-avoidance tendencies, which were derived from reaction times in an approach-avoidance task. Component mediation analyses based on multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine whether the intention to be physically active mediated the relationship between behavioral apathy levels and usual physical activity levels, and whether explicit attitudes and approach-avoidance tendencies mediated the relationship between behavioral apathy and the intention. ResultsResults showed that weaker intentions to be physically active mediated the association between higher behavioral apathy and lower usual weekly levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. In addition, explicit attitudes mediated the effect of behavioral apathy on intentions to be physically active. Results on approach-avoidance tendencies showed a significant three-way interaction between apathy, stimulus (physical activity vs. sedentary behavior), and action direction (approach vs. avoidance) on corrected reaction time (b = 19.6; 95CI = 2.0 to 37.3; p = .029), with higher apathy being associated with a greater tendency to avoid physical activity stimuli and to approach sedentary stimuli. However, we found no evidence suggesting that these tendencies mediated the effect of apathy on intentions or habitual physical activity. Based on our data, a mean item score greater than 34.5% of the scale range (e.g., >3.07 on a 1-7 scale) is indicative of behavioral apathy. ConclusionThis study provides new insights into the role of intentions, explicit attitudes, and approach-avoidance tendencies toward physical activity in the relationship between behavioral apathy levels and the engagement in physical activity.