MOTIVATION FOR VOLUNTARY REGULAR EXERCISE AND THE HEALTH BENEFIT: AN ANALYSIS OF ATTRIBUTIONS AND OTHER FACTORS.
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 217
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Most Americans have heard that exercise is beneficial to the cardiorespiratory system, yet a minority of them exercise regularly. This study examined factors associated with participation and nonparticipation in voluntary regular exercise, the extent to which physical health reasons, personal reasons, or circumstances are attributed as the cause of exercise, and participants' possession and use of knowledge of how exercise benefits the cardiorespiratory system. The health problem promotion model (Pender, 1982) and two models of the attribution theory of motivation (Kelley, 1967; Weiner, 1980) provided the conceptual framework.

A total of 89 males and 61 females were surveyed. Subjects were designated as participants (runners) or nonparticipants based on Cooper's (1970) weekly exercise point system. Instruments included the Texas Social Behavioral Inventory (TSBI) and a questionnaire designed for the research, for which validity and reliability were established. Data were analyzed by chi-square, product-moment correlations, t-tests, and multiple regression.

Participants and nonparticipants were comparable in socioeconomic status, self-esteem, definition and value of health, and motivational stability. Participants rated the benefits of regular exercise higher and the costs lower than did the nonparticipants. Nonparticipants were not exercising primarily due to the "discipline required" and "free time used." "Vitality" was a major reason for exercising for participants. More participants than nonparticipants perceived their exercising or nonexercising as internally motivated and under their control. Participants lacked knowledge of how to benefit the cardiorespiratory system by exercise.

Selected health promotion model variables were found to account for 22%, and the Weiner (1980) attributional model 23%, of the variance in group membership. The Kelley (1967) attributional model was not predictive of attribution to cause of exercise.

Education is needed regarding the minimal exercise necessary to benefit the cardiorespiratory system. Strategies to change sedentary behavior should include assessment of perceived costs, time management, and promotion of "vitality" as a major reason for exercising. Recommendations include replication of the study in a lower socioeconomic group, examination of the effect of social support on nonparticipants' perceptions about voluntary regular exercise, and an investigation of personality variables of runners who do and do not have social support for regular exercise.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-04, Section: B, page: 1155.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1983.

School code: 0005.