The main purpose of this study was to explore the influence of social support and self-efficacy on the physical activity beliefs and behaviours of participants in a peer-mentoring intervention embedded in a community-based exercise program. A second purpose was to explore social support, self-efficacy, and perceived barriers and facilitators to exercise program adherence for study participants within the community-based exercise program setting. Participants (N=10, plus 6 mentors) were adults with chronic health conditions living in a low-income neighbourhood. Intervention (n=4) and comparison (n=6) groups completed self-report measures of physical activity, social support, and barrier self-efficacy at baseline, 6-weeks, and 12-weeks. Interviews were used post-intervention to explore the impact of peer mentoring, perceived social support and self-efficacy within the exercise setting, and barriers and facilitators to physical activity for study participants. Intervention participants showed greater exercise program adherence than comparison participants at 6-weeks. Qualitative findings suggest the peer mentoring intervention increased motivation and sense of obligation to adhere to the exercise program, and provided vicarious learning opportunities that may have indirectly influenced exercise program adherence for intervention and mentor participants. Findings also suggest that the exercise program was highly influential to participants’ social support and self-efficacy beliefs. Multiple barriers and facilitators to physical activity were reported. Overall, the current study supports the use of peer mentoring as an intervention strategy in combination with additional strategies to promote exercise program adherence in the study population. Practical implications are discussed in relation to the promotion of exercise program adherence in older adults with chronic health conditions participating in a community-based exercise program in a low-income neighbourhood. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-29 10:44:19.343

Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die Relevanz von Kontrollüberzeugungen in der intergenerationalen Transmission von sozialem Status. Motiviert ist die Arbeit von der Frage nach der Möglichkeit Chancengerechtigkeit durch die Verringerung herkunftsbedingter Unterschiede in Kontrollüberzeugungen zu erhöhen. Nach einer Einführung des zentralen Konstruktes werden im theoretischen Teil durch die Zusammenführung soziologischer und sozialpsychologischer Theorien potentielle Transmissionsmechanismen erörtert. Der empirische Teil prüft den postulierten Transmissionskanal anhand längsschnittlicher Daten. Um die Möglichkeit der Verringerung herkunftsbedingter Unterschiede in Kontrollüberzeugungen abzuschätzen wurde mit Hilfe von Zwillingsdaten und einer randomisiert kontrollierten Interventionsstudie untersucht wie stark Kontrollüberzeugung genetisch determiniert sind beziehungsweise von sozialen Faktoren innerhalb und außerhalb des familiären Kontextes beeinflusst werden. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Kontrollüberzeugungen den Einfluss des Herkunftsstatus auf den eigenen Status teilweise mediieren. In Übereinstimmung mit bisherigen Studien weisen die Ergebnisse der Zwillingsstudien darauf hin, dass Kontrollüberzeugungen in hohem sozial determiniert sind. Die Interventionsstudie indiziert ,dass Kontrollüberzeugungen gezielt verändert werden können. Im konkreten Fall konnten externe, fatalistische Kontrollüberzeugungen durch ein Mentoringprogramm verringert werden. Abschließend wird die gesellschaftliche Norm zur Internalität kritisch betrachtet. Sowohl internale als auch externale Kontrollüberzeugungen können adaptiv sein, sofern sie auf realistischen Einschätzungen der tatsächlich vorhandenen Kontrollmöglichkeiten basieren. Die Grenzen der tatsächlich vorhanden Kontrollmöglichkeiten zu erforschen und zu benennen wird als wichtiges Ziel soziologischer Forschung in diesem Bereich herausgestellt. / This dissertation aims to assess the role of locus of control (LoC) in the intergenerational transmission of social status as well as the potential to raise fair equality of opportunity by reducing the social gradient in LoC. After the core concept of locus of control is introduced, the theoretical part explicates the mechanisms through which social status is likely to be reproduced via LoC across generations. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the substantive importance of LoC in the intergenerational reproduction of social status using data from the British Cohort Study 1970. The evidence suggests that LoC partly mediates the influence of parents’ status on own status attainment: Children from low-SES households are less likely to be endowed with the type of LoC that benefits status attainment later in life. Hence LoC is a potential lever for reducing intergenerational status persistence. As the potency of this lever depends on the degree to which LoC is socially formed rather than genetically determined another aim was to provide evidence on the contribution of genetic inheritance and different social actors at different points in the life-span. Towards this end, information from a multi-cohort twin study and a randomized controlled intervention study were analyzed. The evidence suggests that extra-familial influences become more important in determining locus of control across age, and that a low-intensity mentoring program can reduce fatalistic LoC in low-status children, but not their overall locus of control. The overall discussion reflects upon a general social norm of internality. It is argued that internality and externality are functional if they are based on a realistic assessment of the boundaries of control. Providing empirical evidence for these boundaries is endorsed as an important goal for social scientific research.