Abstract
Individual differences may suggest why some people with arthritis are more active than others. We used Peterson's little optimism/pessimism concept to examine this notion. Little optimism, or thinking positively about physical activity (PA) in the near future, may be related to activity- and disease-specific social cognitive beliefs about PA. We examined whether women with arthritis (N=102; Mage=49.90 years) who were little optimists (positive PA thoughts) or pessimists (negative PA thoughts) differed in their beliefs and PA. Our study design was observational-prospective. Participants first completed online measures of little optimism/pessimism (acute thinking about upcoming PA), self-regulatory efficacy beliefs (SRE), PA decisional struggle, and arthritis pain acceptance. Moderate-plus PA was assessed two weeks later. Acute thoughts coding revealed little optimist (n=60) and little pessimist (n=42) groups. A MANCOVA controlling for age and arthritis pain was significant (p<.01). Follow-up ANOVAs revealed little optimists had significantly: (a) higher SRE to overcome arthritis barriers (5.51 vs. 2.74), schedule/plan PA (6.50 vs. 4.25), cope with acute thoughts (6.76 vs. 4.00); (b) more pain acceptance (74.35 vs. 62.81); (c) more PA (207 vs. 131 minutes/week) and (d) less PA decisional struggle (3.34 vs. 5.64) than little pessimists. Little optimism/pessimism differentiates strength of activity- and disease-specific social cognitive beliefs about PA and extends individual difference findings about adherence in this symptomatic population.Acknowledgments: Funded by SSHRC grant #410-2005-2292.