Associations Between Social Cognitive Determinants and Movement-Related Behaviors in Studies Using Ecological Momentary Assessment Methods: Systematic Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Social cognitive frameworks have been a longstanding framework within literature to explain and predict movement-related behaviors. These behaviors have been researched greatly in macro-timescales, but daily levels of movement-related behaviors can differ and be influenced by within-day social cognitive determinants (e.g., self-efficacy, intentions). Ecological Momentary Assess-ment (EMA) is a growing methodology that can capture movement-related behaviors and social cognitive determinants as they change in micro-timescales. OBJECTIVE The objective of this systematic review was to summarize evidence from Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies examining associations between social cognitive determinants and movement-related behaviors (i.e., physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB)). METHODS Articles were included if they quantitatively tested such an association at the momentary- or day-level and excluded if they were an active intervention. Articles were identified across PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and PsychINFO databases. Each article was screened independently by two re-viewers. Twenty-four articles (N = 1,891 participants) were eligible from which data regarding participants, study design, associations between social cognitive determinants and movement-related behaviors and article quality (i.e., Methodological Quality Questionnaire, Checklist for Reporting EMA Studies) were extracted. At least 60% of articles needed to document similar asso-ciations to conclude an overall association existed. RESULTS At the day-level, intentions and self-efficacy were positively associated with PA. No other associa-tions could be determined due to conflicting findings or too few articles investigating associations. CONCLUSIONS Future research would benefit from validating EMA assessments of social cognitive determinants and systematically investigating associations across different operationalizations of key constructs. Despite the recent emergence of EMA to understand social cognitive determinants of movement-related behaviors, findings indicate that daily intentions and self-efficacy play an important role in regulating PA in everyday life. CLINICALTRIAL This review was registered through Prospero #CRD42022328500.