Abstract

To examine how psychological variables influence adoption of physical activity/exercise, we conducted a cross-sectional study among Japanese employees based upon the idea of transtheoretical model. The study population consisted of 719 employees (male, 396, female, 323). Response rate of the males was 77.8% (n=308), among which 273 eligible male subjects (68.9%) were analyzed. The study questionnaire included demographic characteristics, physical activity/exercise measures, self-efficacy measures, and perceived benefit and barriers scales. Perceived benefit and barrier scales were classified into 8 factors (5 benefits and 3 barriers) by factor analyses. We found that only 8% of the subjects were in the action and maintenance stages of physical activity/exercise, and 27% of them in these two stages engaged in vigorous-intensity exercise and 73% of them engaged in moderate-intensity physical activity. We found that self-efficacy, "psychological benefit", "social benefit", "vital benefit" and "physical barrier" were psychological correlates of physical activity/exercise stages in male employees, especially, there was a consistent relationship between self-effi cacy and the stage of physical activity/exercise. Our data suggest that health education for Japanese male employees should focus on strengthen self-efficacy and psychological factor-matched interventions through either engaging vigorous-intensity exercise or increasing physical activity in daily life. Verf.-Referat