Background. Greater behavioral apathy has been shown to be associated with lower engagement in physical activity. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain overlooked and poorly understood. Intention, explicit attitudes, and implicit attitudes toward physical activity may play a central role in the relationship, given their strong links to motivation and physical activity. Methods. An online study was conducted in 365 participants aged 54±18 years. All measures were assessed using questionnaires, except automatic attitudes toward physical activity, which were derived from reaction times in an approach-avoidance task. Component analyses based on multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine the mediation effect of intention and attitudes. Results. Results showed that weaker intention to be physically active mediated the association between higher behavioral apathy and lower habitual levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. In addition, explicit attitudes mediated the effect of behavioral apathy on intentions to be physically active. Although higher apathy was associated with a greater tendency to avoid physical activity stimuli and to approach sedentary stimuli, we found no evidence suggesting that this tendency mediated the effect of apathy on intentions or habitual physical activity. Conclusion. This study provides new insights into the role of intention and affective attitudes toward physical activity in the relationship between behavioral apathy and physical activity.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Matthieu P. Boisgontier is supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (RGPIN-2021-03153), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI 43661), and Mitacs.

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Ethics committee/IRB of University of Ottawa gave ethical approval for this work (H-05-21-6791).

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