Exercising control: exercise intention and perceived constraints in older adults with osteoarthritis.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Maintaining perceived psychological control in older adulthood is beneficial for health, well-being, and adjustment to chronic illness. Theoretically, control over specific, personally meaningful domains should inform general control beliefs. Thus, the objective of the present study was to examine perceived control over the exercise domain (operationalized as exercise intention belief) for its ability to predict general control beliefs in a sample of older adults with chronic illness over 1 year. DESIGN AND METHODS Longitudinal survey responses from 133 older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) were examined. RESULTS Longitudinal hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that higher baseline exercise intention beliefs predicted a lower perception of constraints on control 9-12 months later, but did not predict changes in mastery beliefs. IMPLICATIONS Results suggest that bolstering exercise intention beliefs may protect against age-related increases in psychological constraints on perceived control for older adults with OA.