Editorial: New developments in the intention-behavior gap for physical activity – recent trends, controversies, and a critical outlook

Physical activity (PA) plays a predominant role in health promotion and disease prevention. Despite strong intentions, individuals often refrain from acting on intended behaviors due to various barriers (e.g., high levels of stress, other priorities, waning motivation). This so-called intention-behavior gap can be overcome by self-regulation, which is a central aspect of goal-directed human behavior and can be defined as a process in which a person modifies his or her thoughts, feelings, moods, and impulses as well as other dominant response tendencies to bring them in line with his or her goals, aims, or norms. Recent research has highlighted the importance of integrating explicit (e.g., motivational, and volitional processes) and implicit processes (e.g., habitual processes) to explain human behavior. However, it is still unclear, how explicit, and implicit processes work together and, for example, if they operate in parallel (additive pattern) or may also interact (synergistically) in predicting PA behavior. The aims of the current Research Topic are to expand our understanding of PA regulation, to identify the relevant processes affecting and bridging the intention-behavior gap, and to develop and evaluate treatments to promote and maintain PA behavior. Dual-process theories (Brand & Ekkekakis, 2018; Hofmann, Friese, & Strack, 2009; Strack & Deutsch, 2004; Strobach et al., 2020), action control theories (Rhodes & Yao, 2015), and integrated models of health behavior (Hagger & Hamilton, 2020) provide promising frameworks to examine and get new insights in the adoption and maintenance of PA behavior. We therefore encourage authors to consider developments of new theoretical paradigms and ideas (e.g., role of executive functions, effort, self-regulation), innovative quantitative measures, as well as innovative research designs and interventions, such as ambulatory assessment, objective measures, physical activity and sport performance, application of qualitative research designs or mixed methods.