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. 2017 Mar 16;12(3):e0173231.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173231. eCollection 2017.

Do intrapersonal factors mediate the association of social support with physical activity in young women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods? A longitudinal mediation analysis

Anouk Middelweerd  1 , Saskia J Te Velde  1 , Gavin Abbott  2 , Anna Timperio  2 , Johannes Brug  3 , Kylie Ball  2
Affiliations

Do intrapersonal factors mediate the association of social support with physical activity in young women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods? A longitudinal mediation analysis

Anouk Middelweerd et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Levels of physical activity (PA) decrease when transitioning from adolescence into young adulthood. Evidence suggests that social support and intrapersonal factors (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, PA enjoyment) are associated with PA. The aim of the present study was to explore whether cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of social support from family and friends with leisure-time PA (LTPA) among young women living in disadvantaged areas were mediated by intrapersonal factors (PA enjoyment, outcome expectations, self-efficacy).

Methods: Survey data were collected from 18-30 year-old women living in disadvantaged suburbs of Victoria, Australia as part of the READI study in 2007-2008 (T0, N = 1197), with follow-up data collected in 2010-2011 (T1, N = 357) and 2012-2013 (T2, N = 271). A series of single-mediator models were tested using baseline (T0) and longitudinal data from all three time points with residual change scores for changes between measurements.

Results: Cross-sectional analyses showed that social support was associated with LTPA both directly and indirectly, mediated by intrapersonal factors. Each intrapersonal factor explained between 5.9-37.5% of the associations. None of the intrapersonal factors were significant mediators in the longitudinal analyses.

Conclusions: Results from the cross-sectional analyses suggest that the associations of social support from family and from friends with LTPA are mediated by intrapersonal factors (PA enjoyment, outcome expectations and self-efficacy). However, longitudinal analyses did not confirm these findings.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Conceptual mediation model for the cross-sectional analyses.
A-F Conceptual model of the direct and indirect association of social support (i.e. from friends/colleagues and from family) personal determinants (PA enjoyment, self-efficacy and outcome expectations) and leisure-time physical activity (≥150minutes/week) for the cross-sectional analyses.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Conceptual model for the longitudinal analyses using residual change scores.
A-F Conceptual models of the direct and indirect association of changes in social support from friends and from colleagues and family, changes in personal determinants (PA enjoyment of physical activity, self-efficacy for physical activity and outcome expectations and changes in leisure-time physical activity.
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