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Abstract
Social factors and the concepts of flow and situational involvement have all been found to be influential in shaping leisure behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of different co-participants during recreational physical activity episodes, along with participants' feelings of flow and situational involvement during recreational physical activity when alone and with different co-participants. Over one-third of the 2053 episodes reported by the 365 adult participants in their log booklets occurred alone, whereas spouse/partner, children, and friends were other common co-participants. Episodes engaged in with someone else were more often characterized by anxiety, boredom, and apathy, but higher levels of situational involvement. Both the prevalence of flow categories and levels of situational involvement differed across types of co-participants, with participation alongside an activity-related club or group characterized by the most positive ratings of both feelings. Finally, higher levels of situational involvement were experienced during flow-like episodes. Implications for both researching and promoting physical activity are discussed.
KEYWORDS: Flow, physical activity, involvement
Introduction
Despite significant emphasis on physical activity promotion and a general awareness of exercise benefits, population-wide activity levels remain low and perhaps in a state of decUne (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001, 2003). Individual determinants of behavior, including factors such as self efficacy, demographic variables, and physical characteristics have received considerable attention in the literature (SaIUs Sc Owen, 1999). However, recent reviews have criticized past research for its overwhelmingly individual focus when examining the influences on physical activity patterns (Giles-Corti Sc Donovan, 2002; SaIUs, Kraft Sc Linton, 2002). Trost, NeviUe, Bauman, SaIUs and Brown (2002) suggested that factors affecting physical activity can be divided into six categories: a) demographic and biological factors, b) psychological, cognitive and emotional factors, c) behavioral attributes and skiUs, d) social and cultural factors, e) physical environment factors and, f) physical activity characteristics.
This study was developed to focus on social factors affecting physical activity that was self-described as recreational in nature. In addition to examining with whom adults participate in physical activity, we also examined how two psychological states - situational involvement and flow - vary according to the social context of physical activity episodes. Situational involvement refers to feelings of pleasure and enjoyment in particular situations, while flow describes a...