Relations among age, exercise, and psychological variables in a community sample of women.

Age, exercise status, and their interaction were examined in relation to self-motivation, exercise self-efficacy, and attitudes toward exercise among a community sample of women aged 20 to 85 years. Random digit telephone dialing yielded 121 participants, stratified by age and exercise status. Age was negatively related to attitudes toward exercise and exercise self-efficacy but was unrelated to self-motivation. Age also interacted with exercise status; the belief that exercise would be enjoyable and beneficial decreased with increasing age only among nonexercisers. Finally, exercisers were significantly more self-motivated, had greater exercise self-efficacy, and had more positive attitudes toward exercise than did nonexercisers.