Communication about physical activity (PA) frames PA and influences what it means to people, including the role it plays in their lives. To the extent that PA messages can be designed to reflect outcomes that are relevant to what people most value experiencing and achieving in their daily lives, the more compelling and effective they will be. Aligned with self-determination theory, this study investigated proximal goals and values that are salient in everyday life and how they could be leveraged through new messaging to better support PA participation among women. The present study was designed to examine the nature of women’s daily goals and priorities and investigate women’s PA beliefs, feelings, and experiences, in order to identify how PA may compete with or facilitate women’s daily goals and priorities. Preliminary recommendations are proposed for designing new PA messages that align PA with women’s daily goals and desired experiences to better motivate participation. Eight focus groups were conducted with White, Black, and Hispanic/Latina women aged 22–49, stratified by amount of self-reported PA (29 low active participants, 11 high active participants). Respondents discussed their goals, values, and daily priorities along with beliefs, feelings about and experiences being physically active. Data were collected, coded, and analyzed using a thematic analysis strategy to identify emergent themes. Many of the goals and values that both low and high active participants discussed as desiring and valuing map on to key principles of self-determination theory. However, the discussions among low active participants suggested that their beliefs, feelings, experiences, and definitions of PA were in conflict with their proximal goals, values, and priorities, also undermining their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings from this study can be used to inform and evaluate new physical activity communication strategies that leverage more proximal goals, values, and experiences of happiness and success to better motivate PA among ethnically diverse low active women. Specifically, this research suggests a need to address how women’s daily goals and desired experiences may undermine PA participation, in addition to framing PA as facilitating rather than competing with their daily priorities and desired leisure-time experiences.

Introduction: Climate change poses one of the most pervasive threats to the planet today. Intervention is required to promote pro-environmental behaviors among individuals to curb its effects. Borrowing several constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior, we designed and evaluated a campaign, delivered primarily through Instagram, to shift sustainability-related cognitions and behaviors among university students.Methods: An online survey was distributed to undergraduate students at a Northern California university and collected responses from 1,552 participants.Results: Comparing students who self-reported exposure to the campaign with those who were not exposed, students who observed the campaign materials had more knowledge about (p < .001), greater perceived social norms about (p < .001), and greater intentions to perform sustainable behaviors (p < .001). There were also increases in sustainable behaviors during the campaign, compared to the previous academic term.Discussion: Implementing campaigns inspired by behavior change theories may be one viable strategy to increase individual sustainable behaviors for climate change mitigation.

Background: Parenting styles are associated with various health outcomes among children, such as fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and emotional well-being. Previous literature suggests that responsive parenting styles are associated with improved mental health outcomes. This study examines the association between an adult’s responsive parenting style and the psychosocial outcomes of emotion regulation and loneliness among children. Methods: Using data from the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) cross-sectional survey, this secondary data analysis study seeks to understand how perceived parental responsiveness is associated with adolescents’ emotional health outcomes from the perspective of the adolescent. The sample consisted of 12- to 17-year-olds (n = ~1560), mostly female (50.2%) and non-Hispanic White (63.7%), with a mean age of 14.48 years (SD = 1.61). Results: Through multivariable regression, we found that perceived parental responsiveness negatively predicted adolescent emotion suppression (β = −0.29, p < 0.001), even after controlling for sex, age, race/ethnicity, parental marital status, parental education level, parent’s time spent at work, and the number of kids in the household (β = −0.29, p < 0.001). We also found that perceived parental responsiveness was the strongest predictor for adolescent loneliness (β = −0.27, p < 0.001), even when controlling for sex, age, race/ethnicity, parental marital status, parental education level, parent’s time spent at work, and the number of kids in the household (β = −0.28, p < 0.001). Conclusions: These results suggest that implementing interventions targeting parental responsiveness may be beneficial to improving adolescents’ emotional well-being.