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Title: Is anybody doing it? An experimental study of the effect of normative messages on intention to do physical activity

Author
item VAN BAVEL, RENE - European Commission-Joint Research Centre (JRC)
item ESPOSITO, GABRIELE - European Commission-Joint Research Centre (JRC)
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: BioMed Central(BMC) Public Health
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/15/2014
Publication Date: 7/31/2014
Citation: Van Bavel, R., Esposito, G., Baranowski, T. 2014. Is anybody doing it? An experimental study of the effect of normative messages on intention to do physical activity. BioMed Central(BMC) Public Health. 14:778.

Interpretive Summary: Norms (i.e., beliefs about what other people do) have been shown to influence behavior. Little research has addressed whether normative messages influence the intention to be physically active. Within the context of an internet survey with adolescents and young adults in three European countries with known low levels of physical activity, participants were shown a message indicating most other people like them were regularly physically active, or most people like them were not regularly physically active, or no message. Surprisingly, both the positive and the negative messages resulted in increased intention to be physically active. Thus, normative messages can influence the intention to be physically active, but further research is needed to explain why the negative normative message increased this intention.

Technical Abstract: The study explores whether messages about the physical activity levels of the majority (i.e., normative messages) affect young adults' intention to engage in regular physical activity. An experimental survey among 16- to 24-year-olds in Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania (n=1200) was conducted in March 2013. A control group received no message; one treatment group was told that the majority was physically active (positive message); and another treatment group was told that the majority was not physically active (negative message). Both the positive and (unexpectedly) the negative normative messages showed a significant and positive effect on intention to be physically active. There was no difference between the effects of the messages. Normative messages affect intention, which is encouraging for public health campaigns. The effect of the positive message confirms previous findings on conformity to the norm; the effect of the negative message is unexpected and requires further research to be understood.