AUTHOR=Kekäläinen Tiia , Pulkka Antti-Tuomas , Kyröläinen Heikki , Ojanen Tommi , Helén Joonas , Pihlainen Kai , Heikkinen Risto , Vaara Jani P. 

TITLE=Exercise self-efficacy remains unaltered during military service

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1307979

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1307979

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Exercise self-efficacy is a crucial aspect of adopting and maintaining a physically active lifestyle. Regular physical activity may enhance exercise self-efficacy. This study aimed to investigate the baseline associations of physical fitness, physical activity, and body composition with exercise self-efficacy and the effects of military service on exercise self-efficacy. Methods: The sample consisted of healthy young Finnish conscripts (<italic>n</italic> = 243) undergoing military service. The participants were divided into two groups: an intervention group undergoing a high-intensity functional training program (<italic>n</italic> = 113) and a control group undergoing traditional physical training within their military service (<italic>n</italic> = 130). Exercise self-efficacy (adoption and barrier) and aerobic and muscular fitness were measured thrice (baseline, month 3, and month 5). Self-reported leisure-time physical activity and measured fat percentage were collected at baseline.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Results</title><p>Adoption and barrier exercise self-efficacy correlated positively with aerobic and muscular fitness and leisure time physical activity (<italic>r</italic> = 0.33–0.59, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and barrier self-efficacy negatively with fat percentage (<italic>r</italic> = −0.15, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) at baseline. No changes in adoption (time <italic>p</italic> = 0.912) and barrier self-efficacy (time <italic>p</italic> = 0.441) occurred during the military service. There were no differences between groups in these changes (group × time interaction <italic>p</italic> = 0.643 for adoption self-efficacy and <italic>p</italic> = 0.872 for barrier self-efficacy). Change in muscular fitness correlated positively with change in barrier self-efficacy in the high-intensity functional training group (<italic>r</italic> = 0.35, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: Exercise self-efficacy is positively associated with physical fitness and physical activity among young males. However, military service, whether it involves high-intensity functional physical training or more diverse traditional physical training, does not improve exercise self-efficacy.</p></sec>