Note on the Role of Negative Affectivity in Understanding Relationships between Self-Reports of Exercise and Sick Leave

Abstract

Previous research indicates that observed correlations between self-reports of job stress and self-reports of strain may be reduced after partialling out the variance due to the personality trait of negative affectivity. The present study examined the effect of negative affectivity on the relationships between self-reports of exercise and strain in a sample of 128 governmental employees. While the magnitudes of the bivariate correlations between exercise and strain were small, the results of semipartial correlation analyses were somewhat consistent with expectations that the magnitudes of bivariate correlations between exercise participation and self-reports of strain would be reduced after controlling for negative affectivity in measures of strain. The implications of these findings for incorporating a measure of negative affectivity in studies of exercise-strain relationships involving self-reports are discussed.