Promoting Lifespan Physical Activity Intentions horizontal ellipsis and Aging Anxieties? The Paradox of High-Risk and Loss-Framed Messages

Physical activity (PA) promotion messages are typically framed in terms of the gains or losses associated with PA. However, the impact of gain and loss messages is affected by the message recipient's understanding of the risks associated with PA. PA risk is reinforced by the representation of aging as a risk factor of physical decline. Messages that promote PA as a strategy to mitigate aging-related risks of physical decline may have unintended consequences for aging anxiety (AA); however, this association is unexamined. This experiment examined if aging-related risk information and/or message framing impact PA intention and AA. 253 participants completed a randomized set of tasks that exposed them to different levels of aging-related risk information (high vs. low risk) and framed PA messages (gain vs. loss), resulting in a 2 x 2 factorial between-groups design. Outcome variables were lifespan PA intentions and AA. High-risk aging information promoted PA intentions more than low-risk information. Loss-framed PA messages resulted in greater AA than gain-framed messages. Low-risk aging information increased AA when paired with loss-framed PA messages, and high-risk aging information increased AA when paired with gain-framed PA messages. Including aging-related risk information with PA messages increases lifespan PA intentions as well as AA. PA messages that do not include aging-related risk information, but focus on the consequences of inactivity with age, also increase AA. Thus, there appears to be a paradoxical trade-off between promoting lifespan PA intentions and inducing AA through high-risk and loss-framed PA promotion approaches.