Abstract
The compensatory health beliefs model (CHBM) suggests that humans engage in compensatory health behaviours (i.e. exercise) to alleviate or neutralize negative affective states (i.e. guilt, shame) that result from failure to achieve health goals (i.e. weight management). However, engaging in exercise behaviours for compensatory reasons has been associated with maladaptive psychological outcomes that may impede long-term exercise engagement. The present study utilized tenets of the CHBM to (i) examine the acute guilt and shame after self-weighing in predicting compensatory intentions and behaviors to exercise, and (ii) to assess if the emotional effects of self-weighing on compensatory exercise outcomes vary as a function of perceived competence to manage weight. Women seeking weight management (N=52, Mage=57.4?8.9; MBMI=35.3?6.2 kg/m2) completed a 7-day protocol of self-weighing and reported weight-related emotions, and exercise intentions and behaviours. Multilevel models revealed that when women felt more shame related to their weight than usual, they experienced more intentions to exercise (ß=0.53, p<.01), yet less exercise behavior (ß=-0.45, p<.05). Further, the relationship between each emotion and exercise behavior was observed only for women with low perceived competence for weight management. Specifically, experiencing higher shame than usual is associated with less exercise engagement, while higher guilt than usual is associated with more exercise engagement. In partial support of the CHBM, shame appears to have negative consequences for goal-directed exercise engagement while guilt appears to motivate reparative action. Reducing the negative emotional experiences associated with self-weighing may be necessary to promote adaptive exercise engagement among women managing their weight.Acknowledgments: SSHRC