A Deep Dive on Our Latest Paper: Do Women’s Social Interactions Predict Their Physical Activity Motivation and Behavior in Daily Life?

We’re excited to share our newest publication with you, which is now available in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine! This paper was a collaboration between the CHASE Lab/Project WHADE and Rowan University’s REACH Lab.* They specialize in understanding social, emotional, and cognitive influences on health behaviors. So this partnership was a great fit for our new project, which focused on the association between women’s social interactions and their physical activity. 

Regular visitors are well aware of our interest in understanding daily influences on physical activity among women ages 40-60 with health conditions such as high blood pressure. But if you’re a new visitor, welcome! And here is a recap: regular physical activity has powerful benefits for physical and mental health, but between ages 40 and 60, women often struggle to find time to prioritize their health in the midst of big life changes and many responsibilities. Our long-term goal is to understand what affects physical activity in daily life, so that we can do a better job of designing physical activity resources that meet women’s needs as they go about their normal day. (See here and here for more information about our work in this area.) 

One potential influence on women’s activity is their social interactions – any experience with another person during the day, including live conversation, phone calls, text messages, viewing on social media, or brief encounters on the street. We wanted to know more about how women perceive their social interactions and how these perceptions relate to their physical activity motivation and behavior as they go about their day. We used data from our larger Project WHADE study to understand these associations as they occur in women’s daily lives.

What Did We Do?

As in some of our recent work, women ages 40-60 with one or more health conditions were asked to wear physical activity monitors and complete 5 surveys per day on their smartphones for 10 days in a row. Each survey asked participants about:

• Positive and negative social interactions in the last few hours – both the number of each type of interaction and the positive/negative intensity of each type (across all indicated)
• Motivation to engage in physical activity in the next few hours (or tomorrow, at the last survey of the day)

We looked at the associations between their reports of social interactions and (1) their physical activity motivation, and (2) their physical activity behavior in the next 2 hours, as collected by the monitor.

What Did We Find and What Does it Mean?

Women had an average of 12 social interactions per day. While most of these interactions were considered positive (86%); women also had about 2 negative interactions each day. Their positive interactions tended to be with family members and coworkers, and negative interactions tended to be with family members and strangers. On average, women who had more social interactions were more motivated to be physically active (compared to women who had fewer social interactions). However, at times when women had more positive interactions than usual, they were more motivated to exercise, and when women had more negative interactions than usual, they were less motivated to exercise. Women also tended to be less motivated to exercise when they viewed their interactions as more negative than usual.

What about their physical activity behavior? At times when women had more social interactions than usual (across positive and negative types), they actually engaged in less physical activity in the next 2 hours. Every additional social interaction they had beyond their typical number was associated with 3% fewer minutes being physically active in the 2 hours afterwards. But there were two special, related findings:

• Neither positive or negative interactions were individually associated with engaging in physical activity – only the overall number of interactions.
• The negative association between the overall number of interactions and physical activity behavior was true only about half the time! On about half of the days that they participated, when they experienced more social interactions than usual, they were more physically active. This tells us that the influence of social interactions on women’s physical activity behavior depends on the day.

What Was It Like to Work on This Study?

Looking at the associations between women’s social interactions and their physical activity was planned from the outset of our larger study (which you can read about here). But when it came time to get into this stage of the work, I knew it would be a great opportunity to collaborate with the REACH Lab. Dr. Young and I have many shared interests and her team brings expertise from social psychology. Although the CHASE Lab does a lot of work on social processes, we approach these with a clinical lens,** and having a truly social psychological perspective on this project was unique. The paper went through many changes after we initially drafted it and I’m proud of the collaborative process that produced the final version. I’m also glad I had the chance to work with Faith Shank as she develops her research identity.

— Dr. Dani Arigo, CHASE Lab director

I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate on this paper with Dr. Arigo and her team. Typically, my research focuses on alcohol use and social influences in undergraduate college students; however, since starting my program I found interest in other health topics, specifically physical activity. I was delighted to have the opportunity to further my knowledge in physical activity research and provide insight about social interaction. Although I wasn’t part of the data collection process, I was able to offer my understanding of social interactions to help draft the introduction section of this paper. It was a rewarding experience to assist with writing and gain more knowledge about women’s experiences with social interactions and physical activity. 

— Faith Shank, 3rd-year clinical psychology Ph.D student at Rowan University

This project was a great opportunity to look at social influences on behavior in a new way for me, by using more fine-grained analysis of the impact of positive and negative social interactions on physical activity motivation and engagement. This project also allowed me to branch out from my typical research population (college students) into women’s health behaviors during midlife.

— Dr. Chelsie Young, social psychologist and former director of the Rowan University REACH Lab (now working in industry)

Next Steps

Many physical activity interventions encourage social interactions, particularly those that are only for women. As our findings show, some of these interactions benefit physical activity outcomes, whereas some do the opposite and actually lead to decreases in activity motivation and behavior. It’s critical to determine when social interactions are most likely to be beneficial (vs. harmful) for women’s physical activity, so that interventions and resources such as apps make the right suggestions at the right time(s). Our new studies are digging into this issue, to try to provide the most effective physical activity resources for women.

*The REACH Lab was sunsetted in 2022 as its director, Dr. Young, transitioned to a new position.

**Clinical psychology focuses on identifying problematic thoughts and behaviors and using science to promote healthy changes. Social psychology focuses on understanding perceptions of the social environment and social dynamics more broadly.

Meet @RowanChaseLab: Interview with Dr. Gabrielle Salvatore

Gabrielle Salvatore, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the CHASE Lab. She recently received her PhD in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Gabrielle was interviewed by Kristen Pasko, a rising 5th year clinical psychology PhD student and CHASE Lab Manager.

RowanCHASELab: You recently started working with our research team after defending your doctoral dissertation. Congratulations! Can you tell us about your dissertation project and how it fits in with your ongoing research interests broadly? 

Dr. Gabrielle Salvatore: The purpose of my dissertation was to investigate how phases of the menstrual cycle may impact women’s psychological responses to aerobic exercise (i.e. affect, perceived exertion, and self-efficacy for exercise) and tolerance for an aerobic exercise task. I am primarily interested in understanding the role of the menstrual cycle (MC) in women’s daily lives. Specifically, how an individual’s MC experiences, and variability in this experience over the course of the monthly cycle, affects outcomes such as physical activity motivation and engagement.

RowanCHASELab: One of the reasons you seem to fit right in with this lab is your women’s health research. What initiated and continues to fuel your interest in this very important research area? 

GS: During my undergraduate studies I became aware that women have been underrepresented in research and were often excluded. Despite a decreasing gap in exercise and sport participation, there are still barriers to the inclusion of women in research in this area. Hormonal fluctuations due to the MC have often been cited as a potential concern. The taboo and hesitation to talk about a natural process is fascinating to me and fuels my interest, because there needs to be greater awareness and appreciation of this issue.

RowanCHASELab: For you, what are some of the most exciting and challenging parts about the research process? 

GS: I enjoy research because I am constantly challenged to think differently and ask new questions. It’s exciting when you conclude one study with another set of questions. A challenging part of the research process is when something like recruitment or data collection does not go as planned. Another challenge, especially when you are talking about a taboo topic, is communicating the value of your research to a skeptical audience. 

RowanCHASELab: For those who are unfamiliar, can you explain what the purpose of a postdoctoral fellowship is and how you see your role in the lab?

GS: A postdoctoral fellowship is a short-term position that allows you to continue your training, better focus research interests, and hone research skills. You work under the supervision of a mentor and become better prepared for academic positions. I am incredibly lucky to have a position in which I can contribute to ongoing projects and data collection efforts in collaboration with others on our research team while also having the opportunity to pursue my individual interests. As part of my role I can develop ideas and projects that are adjacent to the work already being led by Dr. Arigo and other lab members. A portion of my weekly time is also devoted to working with scholars and clinicians from Drexel University’s WELL Center in the context of an NIH-funded clinical trial. I get to see the research process from multiple perspectives. 

RowanCHASELab: A postdoctoral research position in the health sciences often spans 1-2 years and involves a specific set of research goals. What do you hope to accomplish in your time with us and how do you hope this prepares you for your future career? 

GS: I hope to develop my research line and become exposed to different psychological processes, theories, and methods. My expertise is in exercise and sport psychology; I hope to expand my professional network and affiliations in the field of health psychology to better conduct research on a variety of topics related to women’s health. 

RowanCHASELab: One more thing. We know you are so much more than your research expertise, so tell us something about yourself that you think is important we know!

GS: Growing up I was a competitive gymnast. My personal experiences in the sport got me interested in psychology and I ultimately decided to pursue graduate training that was focused on the psychosocial aspects of physical activity and sport.