smoking, aerobic exercise, and health locus of control
abstract
this study examined the effect of aerobic exercise, health locus
of control, and health value on smoking behavior. thirty-eight subjects
were randomly assigned to either an exercise treatment group or a selfmonitoring
control group. they were administered the hlc scale and a
measure of health value and were instructed to use self-monitoring procedures
in order to establish a smoking and exercise baseline. after the
seven-day baseline was completed, the subjects in the exercise group
continued to self-monitor. they also began an exercise program of
steadily increasing aerobic exercise. subjects in the control group
simply continued to monitor their smoking and exercise as they did during
the baseline. following the program, the pretest measures were readministered
with the stai and bdi added to the battery. results indicated
that the exercise group smoked significantly fewer cigarettes than
the control group. no differences were found between the exercise and
control groups' hlc scores, health value scores, depression scores, or
state anxiety scores. however, a difference in trait anxiety scores did
approach significance. these results suggest that there may be some
utility in including aerobic exercise in smoking treatment programs.
possibilities for future research are discussed.
collections
- retrospective theses [1604]