Active exercisers with a higher orientation toward task-approach goal might experience higher happiness: the mediating role of dispositional self-control

Abstract

Active exercisers engage in physical activity or training sessions with intentions that are inherently influenced by stable orientations toward achievement goals (i.e. self-regulatory representations about specific outcomes that influence one’s behaviour). Using the 3 × 2 achievement goals framework in the leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) setting, the purpose of this study was to examine the development of happiness (i.e. short-term and temporary contentment) in active exercisers by testing a model in which dispositional self-control (i.e. stable capability of the self to initiate goal-directed behaviours and inhibit goal-disruptive behaviours) played the role of mediator between goal orientations and happiness. Five hundred nine active exercisers (329 females and 180 males, M age = 32.42, SD age = 10.85, from 18 to 65 years old) answered questionnaires on LTPA amount, orientations toward achievement goals for LTPA, dispositional self-control, and happiness. We conducted correlation and structural equation model analyses. Results revealed that: (a) orientation toward task-approach goal (i.e. stable tendency to desire to perform well) positively predicted dispositional self-control and happiness; (b) orientation toward self-avoidance goal (i.e. stable tendency to desire to avoid performing worse than before) negatively predicted dispositional self-control and happiness; and (c) dispositional self-control partially mediated the positive effect of orientation toward task-approach goal on happiness. This study suggests that task-approach goal (or self-avoidance goal) can spark adaptive (or maladaptive) effects in terms of self-regulation and happiness. Theoretical and practical implications for the study of the relationships between achievement goals, self-regulation, and happiness are discussed.