Moderators of Youth Exercise Intention and Behavior

This study tested moderators of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) based on geographical region, gender, race, and income among adolescents in an exercise context using multigroup path analyses. Participants were eighth- and ninth-grade students from Louisiana (LA; N = 448, M_age = 14.37 years) and Pennsylvania (PA; N = 681, M_age = 14.28 years). They completed measures of intention, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and exercise behavior. Based on two path analyses, geographical region was a significant moderator (p<.001); therefore, the moderating effects of gender, race, and income were analyzed separately for each state. Gender was a significant moderator for LA (p<.001) but not for PA (p =.90). Race and income did not moderate the TPB relationships within each state. Findings support the moderating effect of geographical region on the TPB construct relationships and indicate that gender moderates the TPB construct relationships in LA youth.