A Self-Referent Thinking Model: How Older Adults May Talk Themselves Out of Being Physically Active

The purpose of this qualitative study was to ground current theory on exercise behavior with authentic voices of older adults as they thought about physical activity. Aged 55 to 92, 41 adults of various activity levels provided interviews with regard to personal experiences, health issues, and motivation for active lifestyles. Key constructs from four contemporary health behavior theories were integrated into a decisional balance template. Interpretive analysis organized positive and negative thinking on the template and thereby animated important theoretical constructs with the actual voices of older adults. Although generally supporting current theoretical models, the surprising finding was that active people expressed as much negative self-talk as did inactive people. However, they differed in their ability to balance each issue with strong positive thinking based on previous personal successes and direct experience of benefits. This finding suggests that promoting health through lifestyle change is very difficult to do without positive past-mastery experiences.