Social cognitive theory correlates of physical activity for women approaching menopause: A MONET study

Abstract

Menopause marks the beginning of a period of life transition involving important health changes (North American Menopause Society [NAMS], 2004). It has been demonstrated that physical activity can partly compensate for some of the negative effects of estrogen deficiency (Kemmler et al., 2002). Unfortunately the majority of Canadian middle-aged women are inactive (Craig & Cameron, 2004). The years prior to the onset of the menopausal transition are an important time to modify activity levels, but very few studies have looked at the determinants of physical activity for women at this stage of their life. The purpose of this study was to investigate social cognitive theory correlates of physical activity for women that are approaching menopause. The initial methodology was based on a prospective research design. However, based on the decision to rely on a different measure of physical activity behaviour, the research design was modified to that of a cross sectional design. Within the cross sectional research design, 76 participants, enrolled in the MONET longitudinal study, completed measures of barrier self-efficacy, social support, environmental factors, moods, and exercise behaviour. Results showed that physical activity behaviour was significantly correlated to barrier self-efficacy (r = .33, p < .01) and anxiety (r = -.27, p < .05). In the light of these results, consideration should be given to the roles of self-efficacy and anxiety in the development of strategies to increase physical activity for women approaching the menopausal transition.