Concurrent and lagged relations between momentary affect and sedentary behavior in middle-aged women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reciprocal relationship between sedentary behavior (SB) and momentary affect in the context of daily experiences.

Community-dwelling midlife women (N = 121; age 40-60 y) were recruited for a 15-day daily diary study. The women rated their positive and negative affect when prompted on a personal digital assistant device four times per day and wore an accelerometer for objective assessment of SB. Multilevel models were estimated to test concurrent and lagged associations between momentary estimates of SB and affect.

In models that controlled for day of week, number of hot flashes, and total minutes of accelerometer wear time, greater concurrent positive affect was associated with fewer minutes spent being sedentary (β = -31, P < 0.01). Neither lagged positive nor negative affect predicted later SB; however, more sedentary minutes predicted lower positive affect at the next occasion (β = -0.04, P < 0.01).

These results suggest that SB has negative affective consequences from moment to moment. The implications of reduced positive affect after prolonged bouts of SB for subsequent motivational, behavioral, or well-being outcomes remain to be determined.