Momentary assessment of affect, physical feeling states, and physical activity in children.

Abstract

Objective Most research on the interplay of affective and physical feelings states with physical activity in children has been conducted under laboratory conditions and fails to capture intraindividual covariation. The current study used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to bi-directionally examine how affective and physical feeling states are related to objectively-measured physical activity taking place in naturalistic settings during the course of children’s everyday lives. Methods Children (N = 119) (ages 9–13 years) (52% male, 32% Hispanic) completed eight days of EMA monitoring, which measured positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), feeling tired, and feeling energetic up to seven times per day. EMA responses were time-matched to accelerometer assessed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in the 30 minutes before and after each EMA survey. Results Higher ratings of feeling energetic and lower ratings of feeling tired were associated with more MVPA in the 30 minutes after the EMA prompt. More MVPA in the 30 minutes before the EMA prompt was associated with higher ratings of PA and feeling energetic, and lower ratings of NA. Between-subject analyses indicated that mean hourly leisure-time MVPA was associated with less intraindividual variability in PA and NA. Conclusions Physical feeling states predict subsequent physical activity levels, which in turn, predict subsequent affective states in children. Active children demonstrated higher positive and negative emotional stability. Although the strength of these associations were of modest magnitude and their clinical relevance is unclear, understanding the antecedents to and consequences of physical activity may have theoretical and practical implications for the maintenance and promotion of physical activity and psychological well-being in children.

Adolescent mental health—Opportunity and obligation

“…These may be used to measure fluctuations in autonomic function and arousal, location, and self-reported emotion, allowing objective assessment of individuals in the real world, in real time (17). This is in contrast to current methods that typically require individuals to self-report by reflecting back over an extended period, typically many weeks, which often does not reflect the person’s true level of functioning.…”

Association of usual self-reported dietary intake with ecological momentary measures of affective and physical feeling states in children

“…Finally, the random scale portion of the mixed effects location scale models for NA and physical fatigue were excluded because they did not converge, possibly due to low variance of these outcomes. This issue has been observed in previous studies that have used mixed effects location scale models (Dunton et al, 2014; Hedeker et al, 2008). …”

“…Affective state variability has previously been examined using repeated measures data in research by Hedeker et al (2009) to characterize the association of smoking and affective state variability in adolescents. Additionally, a recent study used EMA to reveal that physical activity was associated with greater affective state stability in children (Dunton et al, 2014). However, this is the first study to examine the cross-sectional relationship between diet and variability of affective states over time.…”

“…Affect and physical feeling states were assessed using one to four items. Although use of additional items may have strengthened these measures, short scales were necessary in this EMA study to avoid over-burdening participants (Dunton et al, 2014). The mean BMI percentile of the sample included in this study was below the average BMI percentile for children, which may indicate that the participants were from a more health-conscious population and thus limit the generalizability of these findings.…”

“…Previous research has demonstrated that intraindividual variability (i.e., fluctuations) in affect is associated with various health outcomes (Bowen, Baetz, Hawkes, & Bowen, 2006; Costello, Benjamin, Angold, & Silver, 1991; Weinstein, Mermelstein, Shiffman, & Flay, 2008). Affect variability has also been related to other health behaviors, including smoking and physical activity (Dunton et al, 2014; Weinstein et al, 2008). Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) offers novel ways to examine such aspects of the association between affect and diet.…”