SELF-EFFICACY AND SOCIAL SUPPORT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SENSE OF CONTROL IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Amidst major disruptions and social distancing rules, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many negative impacts on psychological health, particularly in one?s sense of control. In light of the many physical and mental benefits that physical activity can have, this study seeks to explore the use of exercise to positively influence sense of control in an eight-week long experiment on healthy young adults. In addition, self-efficacy is studied as a mediator in the relationship between physical activity and sense of control, moderated by social support. Specifically, it was hypothesised that when provided with supportive communications, participants would be able to derive a larger increase in self-efficacy and subsequently in sense of control scores. The proposed moderated mediation model did not achieve significance but social support was found to moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and sense of control. When provided with supportive communication and social norms, self-efficacy showed a stronger association with sense of control as compared to only providing social norms. The implications of the findings and the potential for physical activity as an intervention to target sense of control through self-efficacy are discussed. The idea of self-selected physical activity is discussed regarding its effects to maximise psychological benefits of exercise.