Does Affective Valence During and Immediately Following a 10-Min Walk Predict Concurrent and Future Physical Activity?

Background Affect may be important for understanding physical activity behavior. Purpose To examine whether affective valence (i.e., good/bad feelings) during and immediately following a brief walk predicts concurrent and future physical activity. Methods At months 6 and 12 of a 12-month physical activity promotion trial, healthy low-active adults (N=146) reported affective valence during and immediately following a 10-min treadmill walk. Dependent variables were self-reported minutes/week of lifestyle physical activity at months 6 and 12. Results Affect reported during the treadmill walk was cross-sectionally (month 6: beta=028.6, p=0.008; month 12: beta=026.6, p=0.021) and longitudinally (beta=014.8, p=0.030) associated with minutes/week of physical activity. Affect reported during a 2-min cool down was cross-sectionally (month 6: beta=21.1, p=0.034; month 12: beta=30.3, p<0.001), but not longitudinally associated with minutes/week of physical activity. Affect reported during a postcool-down seated rest was not associated with physical activity. Conclusions During-behavior affect is predictive of concurrent and future physical activity behavior.