Rodrigues, FilipeFigueiredo, NunoJacinto, MiguelMonteiro, DiogoMorouço, Pedro2024-02-232024-02-232023-01-25Rodrigues, F.; Figueiredo, N.; Jacinto, M.; Monteiro, D.; Morouço, P. Social-Cognitive Theories to Explain Physical Activity. Educ. Sci. 2023, 13, 122. https://doi.org/10.3390/ educsci13020122http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/9477This research was funded by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., grant number UID/04748/2020 and grant number UID04045/2020.Despite the widely recognized health benefits of physical activity, participation in regular physical activity falls far short of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030. More than half of the population does not reach current recommendations, and around one-fourth is not sufficiently active at all. Understanding social-cognitive theories may aid in the creation of interventions to improve long-term physical activity maintenance. The current work covers theory and research on physical activity patterns. It specifically provides an overview of contemporary conceptualizations of motivational and cognitive theories, as well as reviews recent perspectives on how physical activity can be adopted and maintained. Key questions, such as whether physical activity can be executed purely based on cognitive functions, are also addressed. Furthermore, this review identifies possible and effective intervention strategies to promote physical activity.engSelf-DeterminationTheoryTheory of Planned BehaviorTranstheoretical ModelPhysical activityBehavior changejournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/educsci130201222227-7102