Exercise Motivation

Laura Bloodworth

15 October 2013

Spiller

Exercise Motivation and Self-Determination Theory

Regular physical activity and exercise has been linked to favorable outcomes for health and psychological well-being. Despite the highly publicized correlation between exercise and physical and mental health, data collected in the United States has revealed that a large percentage of Americans still do not engage in the recommended amount of weekly exercise. Teixeira et al. (2012) point out that less than 50% of adults in the US are regularly physically active. Why are there not more Americans consistently working out after being exposed to the information about its sizable health benefits? Teixeira et al. (2012) propose, “that many people lack sufficient motivation” (p. 1) to engage in the suggested amount of exercise. This widely held assumption has led many researchers to study exercise motivation and to develop scales that can determine a person’s general motivation for exercise. The construct of exercise motivation has been measured under a broad motivation theory known as self-determination theory (SDT). Researchers have used a few of SDT’s sub-theories in order to narrow the focus to specifically exercise motivation. SDT’s sub-theory of Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) identifies several distinct and sometimes overlapping types of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is subdivided in to external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. All of these subtypes of extrinsic motivation vary in terms of their degree of autonomy. The types of motivation regulations related to SDT overall include amotivation, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivated (which as stated previously is further subdivided). The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2) is a revised version of the original BREQ and was developed by Markland and Tobin (1997) in order to examine STD in exercise contexts. The BREQ-2 only...