While it has been long known that the behaviour of others can influence individual behaviour, norms (the views and behaviours of others) are not generally reported as strong motivators of physical activity. Using the theory of normative social behaviour as a guiding framework, the purpose of this research was to examine if descriptive norms (the perceived prevalence of others behaviour) would be more important in predicting activity than previously suspected. A secondary purpose was to extend this examination to another health behaviour, healthy eating. Three independent studies were conducted. The first two studies examined what individuals thought motivated their physical activity (Study 1) and eating (Study 2) as well as the relationship between descriptive norms and participants own activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions. Results revealed that, despite being rated by participants as less motivating, descriptive norms were stronger predictors of activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions than other well-established non-normative reasons. It also was found that descriptive norm perceptions about a group proposed to be high in group identity (i.e., friends) was most related to physical activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions. To extend these results, a third study manipulated normative and non-normative messages to examine effects on physical activity. Participants were grouped into one of four conditions (descriptive norm, health, appearance, and control) and received motivation-based email messages specific to their condition encouraging them to be active. It was hypothesized that participants in the descriptive norm condition would experience the greatest increase in physical activity but results did not support this hypothesis, as participants across all conditions significantly increased total physical activity after receiving the messages. A secondary hypothesis examining the focal nature of the targeted behaviours was supported in that responses to normative messages were greatest with the most focal behaviour (using the stairs). Taken together, the results of the first two studies provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the relationships between both descriptive norms and physical activity and descriptive norms and healthy eating may be going undetected. In light of the results of the third study, however, future studies are needed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-09112009-124702 |
| Date | 15 September 2009 |
| Creators | Priebe, Carly Sarah |
| Contributors | Gyurcsik, Nancy, Brawley, Lawrence, Spink, Kevin, S. |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-09112009-124702/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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