ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2019
How we are misinterpreting physical activity intention - behavior relations and what to do about it.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review Examining the Relationship Between Habit and Physical Activity Behavior in Longitudinal Studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- An Early-Stage Digital Therapeutic Intervention to Enhance Affective Response During Physical Activity Among Adults With Overweight or Obesity: Benchmark-Driven Formative Testing Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Trial
- "It's not time for us to sit down yet": how group exercise programs can motivate physical activity and overcome barriers in inactive older adults.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Trial
- The impact of Tai Chi and mind-body breathing in COPD: Insights from a qualitative sub-study of a randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2021Trial
- "It just happens": A qualitative analysis of unintentional tanning behaviors.Journal of American college health : J of ACH · 2026Article
- Psychological and technological predictors of the physical activity intention-behavior gap: an explainable machine learning analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Application of theoretical domains framework to explore the enablers and barriers to physical activity among university staff and students: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Correlates of Physical Activity Participation among Individuals Diagnosed with Cancer: An Application of the Multi-Process Action Control Framework.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Within-person examination of the exercise intention-behavior gap among women in midlife with elevated cardiovascular disease risk.Psychology of sport and exercise · 2022Article
- A cross-sectional study of factors associated with regular dog walking and intention to walk the dog.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Understanding the intention-behavior gap: The role of intention strength.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- Investigating the relation between positive affective responses and exercise instigation habits in an affect-based intervention for exercise trainers: A longitudinal field study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Predictors of self-medication with herbal remedies during pregnancy based on the theory of planned behavior in Kashan, Iran.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2021Article
- Consistent Morning Exercise May Be Beneficial for Individuals With Obesity.Exercise and sport sciences reviews · 2020Review
- (How) Does Affect Influence the Formation of Habits in Exercise?Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- The Role of Perceived Energy and Self-Beliefs for Physical Activity and Sports Activity of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis and Chronic Stroke.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundStudies of the physical activity intention-behavior gap, and factors that may moderate the gap (e.g., habit, perceived behavioral control), can inform physical activity promotion efforts. Yet, these studies typically apply linear modeling procedures, and so conclusions rely on linearity and homoscedasticity assumptions, which may not hold.
methodsWe modelled and plotted physical activity intention-behavior associations and the moderation effects of habit using simulated data based on (a) normal distributions with no shared variance, (b) correlated parameters with normal distribution, and (c) realistically correlated and non-normally distributed parameters.
resultsIn the uncorrelated and correlated normal distribution datasets, no violations were unmet, and the moderation effects applied across the entire data range. However, because in the realistic dataset, few people who engaged in physical activity behavior had low intention scores, the intention-behavior association was non-linear, resulting in inflated linear moderation estimations of habit. This finding was replicated when tested with intention-behavior moderation of perceived behavioral control.
conclusionsComparisons of the three scenarios illustrated how an identical correlation coefficient may mask different types of intention-behavior association and moderation effects. These findings highlight the risk of misinterpreting tests of the intention-behavior gap and its moderators for physical activity due to unfounded statistical assumptions. The previously well-documented moderating effects of habit, whereby the impact of intention on behavior weakens as habit strength increases, may be based on statistical byproducts of unmet model assumptions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.