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Social support facilitates physical activity by reducing pain.

Mark Stevens1, Tegan Cruwys1, Kristen Murray1

  • 1Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

British Journal of Health Psychology
|May 6, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Social support indirectly boosts physical activity by reducing pain. Strengthening social networks can improve activity levels, especially for those with chronic pain conditions.

Keywords:
chronic conditionsmediationpainphysical activitysocial determinants

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Area of Science:

  • Health Behaviors
  • Psychology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Social support is linked to health behaviors, but its direct impact on physical activity is inconsistent.
  • Social support may alleviate emotional and physical pain, which are barriers to physical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the longitudinal relationship between social support and physical activity.
  • To investigate whether reduced pain mediates the association between social support and physical activity.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (Waves 15-17).
  • Employed mediation models on a large Australian sample (n=12,517) and a chronic pain subsample (n=927).

Main Results:

  • Social support was a weak direct predictor of future physical activity in both samples.
  • Mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect effect of social support on physical activity via pain reduction.

Conclusions:

  • Social support influences physical activity primarily by mitigating pain.
  • Enhancing social support networks may improve physical activity, particularly for individuals experiencing pain limitations.