SUPPORTIVE EXERCISE: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND STAGES OF CHANGE IN RELATIONSHIP TO EXERCISE BEHAVIOR IN WOMEN

Because many women miss out on the benefits of exercise, it is important to understand how to encourage their exercise behavior. This study explored provisions of social support as they relate to the transtheoretical model (TTM) stages of change to determine if the importance of perceived general social support provisions and exercise specific social support, both actual and perceived, varied by stage. Further, the association between the stages of change and other variables shown to be related to exercise behavior (i.e., motivation, exercise self-efficacy, and BMI) was explored. The study identified significant differences for the positive social support of reliable alliance. Specifically, women reported higher levels of reliable alliance when in the maintenance stage compared to the preparation and contemplation stages. There were also significant differences by stage for general perceived exercise social support. Women in the contemplation stage reported the lowest level of social support for exercise compared to the other stages. Further, women in the preparation stage reported significantly lower levels of social support for exercise compared to women in the action and maintenance stages. No significant differences were found for actual exercise social support behavior (i.e., working out with another person). There were significant differences between stages for extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and exercise self-efficacy. In addition, BMI levels showed a significant interaction effect related to exercise behavior and age. Specifically, older women in the study reported higher BMI levels. However, this age effect is not present in the maintenance group. Overall, the findings from the current study suggest that it is important to consider multiple variables when attempting to encourage the maintenance of exercise behavior in women.