TY - JOUR
T1 - A Twin-Sibling Study on the Relationship Between Exercise Attitudes and Exercise Behavior
AU - Huppertz, C.
AU - Bartels, M.
AU - Jansen, I.E.
AU - Boomsma, D.I.
AU - Willemsen, G.
AU - de Moor, M.H.M.
AU - de Geus, E.J.C.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Social cognitive models of health behavior propose that individual differences in leisure time exercise behavior are influenced by the attitudes towards exercise. At the same time, large scale twin-family studies show a significant influence of genetic factors on regular exercise behavior. This twin-sibling study aimed to unite these findings by demonstrating that exercise attitudes can be heritable themselves. Secondly, the genetic and environmental cross-trait correlations and the monozygotic (MZ) twin intrapair differences model were used to test whether the association between exercise attitudes and exercise behavior can be causal. Survey data were obtained from 5,095 twins and siblings (18-50 years). A genetic contribution was found for exercise behavior (50 % in males, 43 % in females) and for the six exercise attitude components derived from principal component analysis: perceived benefits (21, 27 %), lack of skills, support and/or resources (45, 48 %), time constraints (25, 30 %), lack of energy (34, 44 %), lack of enjoyment (47, 44 %), and embarrassment (42, 49 %). These components were predictive of leisure time exercise behavior (RÂ = 28 %). Bivariate modeling further showed that all the genetic (0.36 < |r
AB - Social cognitive models of health behavior propose that individual differences in leisure time exercise behavior are influenced by the attitudes towards exercise. At the same time, large scale twin-family studies show a significant influence of genetic factors on regular exercise behavior. This twin-sibling study aimed to unite these findings by demonstrating that exercise attitudes can be heritable themselves. Secondly, the genetic and environmental cross-trait correlations and the monozygotic (MZ) twin intrapair differences model were used to test whether the association between exercise attitudes and exercise behavior can be causal. Survey data were obtained from 5,095 twins and siblings (18-50 years). A genetic contribution was found for exercise behavior (50 % in males, 43 % in females) and for the six exercise attitude components derived from principal component analysis: perceived benefits (21, 27 %), lack of skills, support and/or resources (45, 48 %), time constraints (25, 30 %), lack of energy (34, 44 %), lack of enjoyment (47, 44 %), and embarrassment (42, 49 %). These components were predictive of leisure time exercise behavior (RÂ = 28 %). Bivariate modeling further showed that all the genetic (0.36 < |r
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-013-9617-7
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-013-9617-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 24072598
SN - 0001-8244
VL - 44
SP - 45
EP - 55
JO - Behavior genetics
JF - Behavior genetics
IS - 1
ER -