The dynamic relationship between physical activity and affect on a daily basis: A systematic review and continuous-time meta-analysis.
Creators: name: Ruissen, Geralyn
name: Puterman, Eli
name: Beauchamp, Mark
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Affect
subject: Continuous-time
subject: Physical Activity

description: It is now well established that affective factors are critical for understanding who will successfully adopt and maintain health-enhancing behaviours, such as physical activity behaviour (Williams, Rhodes, &amp; Conner, 2018, 2019). Within the physical activity domain, there is evidence to suggest that incidental affect, or affect experienced in daily life, is both an antecedent and outcome of physical activity behaviour (Emerson, Dunsiger, &amp; Williams, 2018; Flueckiger, Lieb, Meyer, Witthauer, &amp; Mata, 2017; Haas, Schmid, Stadler, Reuter, &amp; Gawrilow, 2017; Liao, Chou, Huh, Leventhal, &amp; Dunton, 2017; Liao, Shonkoff, &amp; Dunton, 2015; Niermann, Herrmann, Von Haaren, Van Kann, &amp; Woll, 2016). However, there are also many inconsistencies in this body of work. For example, in a review conducted by Liao and colleagues (2015), of the six studies that examined the association between momentary positive affect and subsequent physical activity, three studies found a significant positive relationship, two found a positive but non-significant association, and one found a significant negative association. One factor that may explain the inconsistencies in these findings is the time interval between the momentary affect and physical activity measurements (i.e., lead-lag time). For example, the length of time between when incidental affect was assessed and when physical activity occurred varied from 30 minutes after assessment of positive affect to a whole day after affect assessment (Liao et al., 2015). In modelling methods commonly used to examine the lagged relationships between variables (such as the cross-lagged panel model or other 'discrete-time models'), the interpretation of an effect can only be generalized to the specific lag examined, thus making comparisons of effects across different studies that used different measurement intervals inappropriate (Hamaker, Kuiper, &amp; Grasman, 2015; Ryan, Kuiper, &amp; Hamaker, 2019). That is, based on time interval dependencies, differences in effects between studies may be due to differences in lag rather than real differences in the dynamic psychological process of interest (Hamaker et al., 2015; Kuiper &amp; Ryan, 2019; Voelkle, Gische, Driver, &amp; Lindenberger, 2018). Based on the substantial variation in lead-lag times across empirical studies that have examined the bidirectional relationship between physical activity and affect, attempts to synthesize this body of work has been limited to narrative reviews (Liao et al., 2015). To overcome limitations regarding time-interval dependencies, continuous time meta-analyses have been developed to provide a quantitative synthesis from results of studies with differing lead-lag intervals to elucidate the underlying dynamic relationships between variables (Kuiper &amp; Ryan, 2019). The aims of the current review are to: 1. Provide an update on the review from Liao and colleagues (2015) regarding the relationship between physical activity and affective states (negative affect, positive affect, daily mood, emotions) when measured in naturalistic settings on a daily basis. 2. Employ a quantitative synthesis of lagged effects between physical activity and affect though a continuous-time meta-analysis to recover the underlying dynamic relationship between affect and physical activity.