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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

College students--Health and hygiene--Iowa--Cedar Falls; College students--Iowa--Cedar Falls--Attitudes; College students--Health and hygiene; Exercise; Iowa--Cedar Falls; Academic theses;

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between perceived exercise constraints and motivation for exercise among university undergraduate students, and to identify if there is a difference in perceived exercise constraints and motivation for exercise among university undergraduate students in the three exercise behavior categories of regular exercise participants, intermediary exercise participants, and nonparticipants. As issues related to overweight and obesity continue to grow in the United States, research efforts must concentrate upon exercise behavior and the factors that influence exercise participation levels. This study focused upon the exercise behaviors of university undergraduate students, as Americans aged 18 to 29 account for the fastest growing obesity rates among all age classifications. Perceived exercise constraints and motivation for exercise are critical to an understanding of exercise behavior. Consistent with the field of leisure constraints research, perceived exercise constraints are classified into one of three categories: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, or Structural constraints. Respectively, these pertain to an individual's psychological state, his or her relationships with others, and those factors that intervene between his or her preferences for and participation in activities. Similarly, motivation for exercise can be described by four types of behavioral regulation. These four areas include External Regulation, Introjected Regulation, Identified Regulation, and Intrinsic Regulation. Participants in the study (N = 273) completed the survey instrument comprised of four sections: 1) the 21-item Perceived Exercise Constraints Scale (PECS), 2) the 15-item Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ), 3) demographic questions regarding age, sex, ethnicity, and undergraduate classification, and 4) self-classification of one's exercise behavior over the past six months as either a regular exercise participant, intermediary exercise participant, or non-participant. Data analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between perceived exercise constraints and motivation for exercise, and to identify any statistically significant differences among the classifications of exercise behavior on the three subscales of the PECS and the four subscales of the BREQ. These analyses resulted in a significant, negative relationship between perceived exercise constraints and motivation for exercise, and scores of significant difference among the exercise behavior categories on six of the seven subscales of the survey instrument.

Year of Submission

2004

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Rodney Dieser

Second Advisor

Samuel Lankford

Third Advisor

Kathleen Scholl

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2004

Object Description

1 PDF file (103 leaves)

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