Science of Behavior Change NIH Common Fund

Science of Behavior Change

NIH Common Fund Programs: The science of behavior change

The science of behavior change is a critical area of NIH research because of the degree to which lifestyle changes can improve human health. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, type II diabetes, and stroke have all been linked to negative health behaviors like smoking and drinking. Only if scientists can understand how to motivate people to change their behaviors can a more effective prescription for remedying these ailments be constructed for our nation. Two NIH studies currently being undertaken are one which investigates how "environmental and biological factors associated with poverty and stress that underlie abnormal impulsivity that accompanies addiction to substances and unhealthy behaviors" and one which assesses environmental factors that influence the propensity for adolescents to exercise " to identify individual differences in voluntary exercise behavior and inform new ways to change exercise behavior in this age group" (Common Fund Makes New FY2010 Awards to Advance the Science of Behavior Change, 2011, NIH: Science of behavior change).

One recent journal article published upon this subject in The Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness attempted to address the degree to which adolescents tend to show markedly less physical activity than children. The article hoped that by pinpointing when the decline in physical activity occurred, future research might be able to better create a motivational prescription to encourage adolescents to be more physically active. Girls in particular tend to be less active than boys. A group of 297 13-15-year-old female adolescents had their steps per day tracked daily by a pedometer. For all of the girls, the significant drop in steps per day occurred at approximately at 15 years of age. As expected, the higher the number of daily steps, the lower the BMI and lower the girl's self-perceptions in most areas.

This study was not specifically prescriptive, but did suggest that adolescence is a critical age for intervening to encourage children to adopt healthier lifestyle habits. It showed, quantitatively, that the idea that adolescent girls are less active at the age of sexual maturity than their younger counterparts is not merely perception, but real, and also a link between physical activity and the ability to counteract unhealthy levels of weight gain.

Implied in the article, but not specifically addressed, is that sexual maturation and judgmental attitudes about girls' athleticism may also play a role: because it is socially expected that boys engage in physically active play and perform at a certain level, there is a higher level of personal motivation for adolescent males to be more active. This issue is more explicitly touched upon in an article in Fitness magazine, which discusses how young girls are being motivated to exercise by a proliferation of gyms that cater to their needs: "Fitness-industry experts are realizing that girls who are turned off by traditional athletics can still develop a love of exercise -- so long as it's presented as entertainment. While child- or teen-specific gyms like Underground Fitness are in the minority across the country, YMCAs and other fitness centers are attracting young members with classes and interactive cardio equipment geared toward making exercise feel like anything but work" (Heyworth 2006:2).