Abstract
Background: No study has evaluated the effects of executive
function on follow-up
sedentary behavior, which was this study’s purpose.
Methods: A longitudinal design was employed among 18 young
adult college students
(Mage = 23.7 years; 88.9% female). Accelerometer-determined
sedentary behavior and
physical activity, along with executive function, were
assessed at baseline. Approximately
8 weeks later, re-assessment of accelerometer-determined
sedentary behavior and physical
activity occurred. Executive function was assessed using the
Parametric Go/No-Go
(PGNG) computer task. From this, 2 primary executive
function outcome parameters were
evaluated, including the Simple Rule and Repeating Rule.
Results: After adjusting for baseline sedentary behavior,
age, gender, body mass index and
baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), for
every 25% increase in the
number of correctly identified targets for the Repeating
rule at the baseline assessment,
participants engaged in 91.8 fewer minutes of sedentary
behavior at the follow-up
assessment (β = -91.8; 95% CI: -173.5, -10.0; P = 0.03).
Results were unchanged when also
adjusting for total baseline or follow-up physical activity.
Conclusion: Greater executive function is associated with
less follow-up sedentary
behavior.