| The most prevalent self-reported explanation for inactive lifestyles is lack of time. Lack of time for exercise may be the result of poor time management skills. There are no published time management for exercise assessment tools. The purpose of this study was to develop and collect validity evidence for a time management scale for exercise (TIMES). An initial pool of 91 items was developed from existing time management literature resulting in 13 items for each of 7 subscales: Exercise Documentation, Exercise Priorities, Exercise Scheduling, Exercise Organization, Awareness of Time and Exercise Suitability, Setting Exercise Goals, and Exercise Time Management Preferences and Emotions. Ten exercise/health psychologists judged each of the items in terms of relevance and representativeness. Simultaneously, 509 undergraduate students completed the 91 item scale. The judgmental analysis resulted in 49 items meeting all item relevance criteria. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis followed by direct oblimin, Delta=0) revealed an interpretable 4 factor, 32-item solution. Twenty-four items (75%) identified as relevant by the judges significantly loaded on one of the 4 factors. Each of the 4 factors was comprised of at least 7 items with internal consistency values ranging from 0.72 to 0.91. In order to maximize content relevance and representativeness and maintain a minimum of 8 items per subscale, 5 supplementary items provided by the experts were added to the TIMES resulting in a total of 37 TIMES items. A second empirical field study was conducted with 430 undergraduate students. In order to provide evidence of replication, this sample was further divided into 2 subsamples. Neither the 37-item nor the 32-item TIMES was confirmed to fit the data in either of the subsamples but an interpretable 29-item factor pattern emerged from exploratory factor analysis: Exercise Importance (8 items, a&d4; =0.91), Exercise Documentation (8 items, a&d4; =0.92), Setting Exercise Goals (8 items, a&d4; = 0.89), and Perceived Ability to Manage Time for Exercise (5 items, a&d4; = 0.68). Additional validity evidence showed the TIMES to be significantly related to exercise behavior, stage of change for exercise, and the theory of planned behavior. |
