The effects of a brief time perspective intervention for increasing physical activity among young adults

Peter A. Hall · Geoffrey T. Fong

172 citations0/0 files storedPsychology and Health

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Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research Physical Activity and Health Behavioral Health and Interventions

Abstract

Past research has demonstrated that health behavior is correlated with time perspective: long-term thinkers are more likely than short-term thinkers to engage in health protective behaviors and less likely to engage in health damaging behaviors. To date, however, no research has experimentally demonstrated that time perspective is causally related to health behavior. We designed a brief (three 1/2-h weekly sessions) time perspective intervention to enhance long-term thinking about physical activity and examined its efficacy among two samples of young adults who signed up for fitness classes at a university recreational facility. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions: time perspective intervention, goal-setting control intervention, and no-treatment control. In Study 1, physical activity levels were assessed at preintervention, at postintervention (3 weeks later), and at 10-week follow-up (7 weeks after completion of the intervention). Controlling for preintervention physical activity levels, time perspective participants reported increased levels of physical activity relative to both other groups at postintervention, and relative to the no-treatment group at 10-week follow-up. This study provides the first experimental evidence that the effects of health behavior interventions may be enhanced by increasing participants’ long-term time perspective, and that time perspective is causally associated with health behavior. Study 2 replicated some of the effects of Study 1 using a larger sample, a six-month follow-up interval, and improved measurement of outcome. Together Studies 1 and 2 suggest that time perspective is an important ingredient in interventions designed to promote physical activity.

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References

1999Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.1999Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity.1981Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation.1999Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric.2014Putting Time in Perspective: A Valid, Reliable Individual-Differences Metric 1994The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior.1989Anomalies: Intertemporal Choice 1999Who's Smoking, Drinking, and Using Drugs? Time Perspective as a Predictor of Substance Use

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2018Motivational power of future time perspective: Meta-analyses in education, work, and health 2015Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health 2014The Past, the Present, and the Future: A Conceptual Model of Time Perspective in Adolescence 2011Future Time Perspective and Health Behaviors: Temporal Framing of Self-Regulatory Processes in Physical Exercise and Dietary Behaviors

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