Questionnaires for Outcome Expectancy, Self-Regulation, and Behavioral Expectation for Resistance Training Among Young-Old Adults: Development and Preliminary Validity

The purpose of the present research was to develop questionnaires to assess outcome expectancy for resistance training (RT), behavioral expectation in the context of perceived barriers to RT, and self-regulation strategies for RT among young-old adults (50-69 years). Measurement development included (a) item generation through elicitation interviews (N = 14) and open-ended questionnaires (N = 56), (b) expert feedback on a preliminary draft of the questionnaires (N = 4), and (c) a quantitative longitudinal study for item-reduction and psychometric analyses (N = 94). Elicitation procedures, expert feedback, and item reduction yielded four questionnaires with a total of 33 items. Positive outcome expectancy (alpha = .809), negative outcome expectancy (alpha = .729), behavioral expectation (alpha = .925), and self-regulation (alpha = .761) had with one exception moderate bivariate associations with two different indicators of self-reported RT behavior at one-month follow-up (r = .298 to .506). The present research provides preliminary support for newly developed questionnaires to facilitate understanding of the psychosocial determinants of RT among young-old adults.