The present study aimed to investigate the status of physical activity and the differences in psychological factors associated with physical activity from the perspective of transtheoretical model stages between prime- and middle-aged Japanese. The study involved 375 prime-aged volunteers (175 men, 200 women) and 557 middle-aged volunteers (247 men, 310 women) living in Kuse, a town in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. We found that the prime-aged men at the preparation stage had significantly higher self-efficacy scores than at the contemplation stage (p<0.01). Middle-aged men had significantly higher self-efficacy scores at the contemplation stage than at the precontemplation stage (p<0.001). Middle-aged women, meanwhile, had significantly higher self-efficacy scores at the maintenance stage than at the action stage (p<0.01), and at the contemplation stage than at the precontemplation stage (p<0.001). The present findings provide valuable information about the differences in psychological factors affecting physical activity between prime-aged and middle-aged community-dwelling Japanese. This information may be useful to health professionals as they develop effective community-based intervention programs for target populations.</p
