Effects of age and future-time perception on health-related exercise motives

Background/Purpose: Older adults are more likely to exercise for health than younger adults. However, older adults may perceive future-time as more limited; and thus doing exercise for future health outcomes may not seem meaningful. To investigate these contrasting effects, this study examined whether and how future-time perception (FTP) mediates the effects of age on two exercise motives (i.e., positive health and ill-health avoidance). Method: Two hundred eleven Hong Kong adults aged 18-89 (Mean=39.67; SD=20.20) responded to a cross-sectional survey on exercise motives and FTP. Analysis/Results: Two mediation models, one for each motive, were examined by using path analysis, controlling for demographic factors. The quadratic terms of age and FTP were included to examine the possible curvilinear relationships. Both exercise motives of positive health and ill-health avoidance increased with age (β=.50 and .47, p