Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Objective: Positive affect may influence health by promoting physical activity, but evidence evaluating this association is mostly cross-sectional and cannot discern directionality. This study used a counterfactual-based framework to estimate the causal effect of positive affect on physical activity patterns over 25 years, accounting for potential reverse associations. Method: Data were from 3,352 participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study. Repeated assessments of positive affect and physical activity were collected from 1990 to 2016. Longitudinal associations were evaluated in two ways: (a) using baseline positive affect in traditional linear mixed models that accounted for reverse causal associations by adjusting for baseline physical activity, and (b) using marginal structural models that treated positive affect as a time-varying exposure, thus accounting for dynamic reverse causal associations due to bidirectional relationships. Results: Fully adjusted traditional models found no association with physical activity at the first follow-up assessment, but positive affect was related to a slower decline in physical activity over time. Marginal structural models similarly found that positive affect was unrelated to physical activity at the first follow-up assessment but robustly associated with a slower decline in activity levels (5-year change: β = −3.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −5.80, −0.86; difference in 5-year change per 1 − SD positive affect: β = 4.99, 95% CI = 2.52, 7.46). Conclusions: Positive affect may play a causal role in slowing the decline in physical activity adults generally experience during through midlife. Efforts to enhance positive affect at the population level may be a promising new approach to help individuals stay active as they age.
Recommended Citation
Qureshi, F., Kubzansky, L. D., Chen, Y., Soo, J., Kim, E. S., Lloyd-Jones, D., & Boehm, J. K. (2024). Associations between positive affect and physical activity from young adulthood to midlife: A 25-year prospective study. Health Psychology, 43(10), 730–738. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001381
Copyright
American Psychological Association
Included in
Health Psychology Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Health Psychology, volume 43, issue 10, in 2024 following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001381
This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.