A cross-sectional study of low physical fitness, self-rated fitness and psychosocial factors in a sample of Finnish 18- to 64-year-old men

Table 1 Scale of psychosocial factors and associations with physical fitness index

	Low (n = 172)	Moderate (n = 386)	High (n = 341)	p¹
	(%)	(%)	(%)
Knowledge (Chronbach’s α = 0.80)
I know health benefits of PA	95	98	97	0.201
I know how often I should exercise	90	94	95	0.165
I know how many hours in a week I should exercise	85	86	90	0.115
I know the intensity at which I should exercise	76	77	83	0.042
I know where I can get social support for exercise	59	72	77	<0.001
Skills (Chronbach’s α = 0.71)
I have sought information on exercise	52	63	75	<0.001
I can seek exercise alternatives	75	85	90	<0.001
I have found an agreeable way to exercise	67	85	95	<0.001
I have good exercise skills	63	82	93	<0.001
Goal setting (Chronbach’s α = 0.76)
I have set goals for exercise	50	64	78	<0.001
I can achieve my exercise goals	61	77	86	<0.001
Self-efficacy ( Chronbach’s α = 0.80)
I am able to exercise when I am tired	51	55	76	<0.001
I am able to exercise when I am bad tempered	62	78	86	<0.001
I am able to exercise when I am busy	38	52	67	<0.001
I am able to exercise although people close to me do not regard highly PA	71	87	90	<0.001
I am able to restart exercise after an inactive period	80	88	95	<0.001
Social support (Chronbach’s α =0.75)
People close to me support my PA	70	82	88	<0.001
People close to me have a high regard for PA	75	87	90	<0.001
I believe that by being active I can contribute to PA by people close to me	75	82	88	0.001

ISSN: 1471-2458