To move or not to move while on campus: Examining the influence of others

Abstract

Objective

To examine the influence of dynamic and trending descriptive norms on increasing physical activity and decreasing the sedentary behaviors of university students while on campus.

Participants

One-hundred fifty-six university students from a Canadian university completed this study.

Methods

Participants were randomly assigned to receive one of four online messages containing normative information about the on-campus behavior of university students. On-campus physical activity and sedentary behavior were measured pre- and post-message.

Results

The results revealed that students exposed to the trending norm reported a greater decrease in sedentary behavior than students in the control condition, p = .007.

Conclusion

Results provide preliminary experimental evidence that trending norm messages may serve to decrease the sedentary behavior of students while on campus.

Keywords:

• Trending norm
• dynamic norm
• physical inactivity
• sedentary behavior

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of Canada and received approval from the University of Saskatchewan Research Ethics Board.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.