Causal Analysis of Interrelationships among Exercise, Physical Fitness, and Well-Being in U.S. Navy Personnel

摘要

The relationships among physical fitness, physical exercise, and health outcomeswere examined among 4,272 U.S. Navy personnel who completed (1) a physical fitness test; (2) Wallston and Wallston's Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLOC); (3) eight items tapping health values; (4) five dimensions of health care behaviors; and (5) seven measures of mental and physical health outcomes. Regression analyses revealed that physical fitness was a better predictor than exercise of health outcomes among women. Fitness among both males and females was predicted first by the combination of Internal Health Locus of Control and high Health Values and second by exercise. It appears that certain health care behaviors (prevention activities, eating habits, substance use) are associated with exercise activities which, in turn, affect physical fitness. Fitness tends to mediate the relationship between exercise and well-being in females, while both exercise and fitness lead directly to positive health consequences in males. Physical fitness, Health care behaviors, Exercise.