International Programs

The purpose of this study was to compare American And French college students' engagement in muscular fitness promoting behaviors, as well as identify potential psychosocial mediators of such behaviors.
Participants in France were recruited from Lyon 1 University (Claude Bernard) and from Oregon State University (United States). The exercise level of all participants was obtained using a muscular fitness recall questionnaire. A stage of change questionnaire was used to determine the constancy, motivational, and temporal dimensions of health behavior change. Participants completed the questionnaire in their native language.
Overall, the Americans reported higher participation rates for muscular fitness promoting behaviors than did the French (66% vs. 44%, respectively). However, the French reported engaging in longer workouts, and reported more months of involvement. American participants reported being in the action or maintenance stages of change, whereas the majority of French participants reported being in the precontemplation or contemplation stages of change (66.2% vs. 56.8%, respectively).
American college students had higher overall participation rates, greater self-efficacy, perceived more pros for their involvement, and had higher decisional balance scores for muscular fitness behavior. In both cases, the observed prevalence rates were higher than those reported for each respective nation as a whole.