The Effects Of Ego Depletion On Middle School Students’ Physical Activity And The Interventions Of Self-control

From sedentary to regular physical activity behavior change, in essence, is a long-term activity need self-control. Therefore self-control is important for middle school students’ health behavior change such as promoting physical activity. The strength model of self-control views self-control as a kind of energy or strength that is limited in capacity. Ego depletion refers to the acts of self-control weaken one’s subsequent self-control. The current study applies Self-control Strength/Resource Model in the field of exercise psychology. In study 1 the effects of ego depletion on the intention and the behavior of physical activity were examined respectively. In study 2 the promoting effects of self-control interventions on physical activity were examined.Study 1 included two experiments. In exp.1,98 middle school students (aged 15.35 ±.56,55 males and 44 females) from HB Pro. participated in, with 47 participants (aged 15.28 ±.54,24 males and 23 females) in the depleted group and 51 participants (aged 15.41 ±.57,31 males and 20 females) in the control group. Two-task paradigm was conducted, with the white bear task as the depletion task and Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (intention) as the measurement task to measure the intention of physical activity. The results showed that the intention of physical activity of the depleted group was significantly lower than the control group. In exp.2, 61 middle school students (aged 15.34±.54,37 males and 24 females) from HB Pro. participated in, with 32 participants (aged 15.38 ±.61,19 males and 13 females) in the depleted group and 29 participants (aged 15.31 ±.47,18 males and 11 females) in the control group. Two-task paradigm was conducted, with the math test as the depletion task and a 60-minutes physical activity as the measurement task to measure physical activity. The results showed that physical activity of the depleted group was significantly lower than the control group. Study 1 revealed that ego depletion can affect the intention and the behavior of physical activity.Study 2 examined the effects of self-control interventions including issuing of materials and theme class meetings on physical activity with 16 participants in the self-control intervention group (aged 14.38 ±.16,8 males,8 females) and 16 participants in the control group (aged 14.21 ±.19,10 males,6 females) during 8 weeks. The results showed that the self-control interventions promoted middle school students’physical activity.It was concluded that:(1) Ego depletion has a certain negative impact on the intention and the behavior of physical activity.(2) Self-control interventions can significantly improve the level of middle school students’ physical activity and play a positive role in promoting middle school students’physical activity.