Perceived Fitness Predicts Daily Coping Better Than Physical Activity

One hundred sixty‐six participants (70 males, 96 females) completed a series of questionnaires measuring perceived fitness, social desirability, self‐esteem, hope, and perceived stress levels and coping abilities. Participants were then given an activity monitoring device to wear for 1 week. Participants recorded daily measures of physical activity, perceived fitness, and perceived stress and coping over 7 days. Results revealed that although perceived physical fitness was reliably associated with coping, actual physical activity was not. These associations remained even after statistically controlling for gender, social desirability, self‐esteem, hope, perceived stress, and anxiety. Findings suggest that perceived physical fitness may be a better predictor of daily coping than actual physical activity.