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Social Support and Social Norms: Do Both Contribute to Predicting Leisure-time Exercise?Morris A. Okun, PhD; Linda Ruehlman, PhD; Paul Karoly, PhD; Rafer Lutz, PhD; Chris Fairholme, BS; Rachel Schaub, BS
Objectives:
To clarify the contribution
of social support and social
norms to exercise behavior.
Methods:
A sample of 363 college students
completed a questionnaire
that assessed social support and
social negativity from friends, descriptive
and injunctive social
norms related to friends, perceived
behavioral control, attitude, intention,
and leisure-time exercise. Results:
Esteem social support was
the strongest predictor of total and
strenuous leisure-time exercise
(P<.001), and descriptive norm was
a significant (P<.01) predictor of
strenuous leisure-time exercise.
Conclusions:
Social support and social
norms contribute independently
to our understanding of variation
in the frequency of strenuous
leisure-time exercise.
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