Abstract

In an extension of maladaptive behavior determinism (MBD) theory, which states that ordered behavior patterns over time are suggestive of disease states, we examined the relation between leisure activity and health behavior over time. MBD is derived from complexity or chaos theory. It was hypothesized that, over time, increased activity levels would be related to more randomly occurring health behaviors. For 68 participants, daily self-monitoring of leisure activities and four health indicators (healthy eating, feeling hassled, positive mood, and drinking alcohol) were assessed for five weeks and modeled using multiple time series methods. Results showed some support for the hypothesis, particularly with respect to the health indicator feeling hassled. The findings extend support for MBD, and also suggest that physically very active leisure time might have health benefits that are dynamical and not necessarily immediately apparent. Verf.-Referat