Exercising in Public and Private Environments: Effects on Feeling States in Women with Social Physique Anxiety

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the influence of acute exercise performed in public and private exercise environments upon feeling states (FS) in 30 women with high social physique anxiety (SPA). A secondary purpose was to examine if perceptions of evaluative threat (EVT) mediated the affective responses to exercise. Multivariate analyses revealed that exercising in the public environment resulted in negative FS responses, whereas exercising in the private environment yielded favorable FS responses to exercise. EVT significantly mediated state anxiety responses to exercise but did not mediate any of the FS responses. The results suggest that the environment influences the FS responses to exercise among women with high SPA and that EVT mediates selected psychological responses to exercise.