Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the motives for participating in physical activity, and to compare motives with respect to gender and age in pupils aged from 9 to 11 years in Turkey. The participants were 400 voluntary pupils (205 females and 195 males) from a total of four public schools in the center of Cappadocia region. Authorization of parents, teachers and principals were ensured at all times. Data were gathered by “Questionnaire of Motives for Physical Activity Participation”. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor solution -psychological, cognitive, physical, and social aspects of motives- explaining 60.3% of the variance with 30 possible reasons for participating in physical activity in daily life. Internal consistency coefficient was a=.88 for the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics showed that the most important motives for being physically active were social factors (M=2.28±.69), it was followed in order of importance by psychological factors (M=2.25±.63), physical factors (M=2.20±.51) and cognitive factors (M=1.82±.63). The most indicated social motive was “to be and play with friends”, while the least were “social events as tournament participation” and “to be well-known and popular”. Kruskal Wallis Test showed that mean ranks on cognitive and physical motives were significantly different according to age, increasing in importance from age 9 to 11 (p<.05*). Mann-Whitney U test showed that there was no significant difference on participation motives regarding gender (p>.05) in primary school students. Key words: Physical activity, motivation, participation, Turkish students.
Highlights
IntroductionSchool-age children are becoming increasingly sedentary and unfit (Chin and Edginton, 2014; Douglas et al, 1997; Edginton et al, 2013; Ludwig, 2007)
Today, obesity and overweight have become the most widespread problem in the world
In order to examine the structure of the Questionnaire of Motives for Physical Activity Participation (QMPAP), an exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the data
Summary
School-age children are becoming increasingly sedentary and unfit (Chin and Edginton, 2014; Douglas et al, 1997; Edginton et al, 2013; Ludwig, 2007). This issue brought attention to the importance of sustained physical activity as a requirement for healthy active living. As stated in many researches, physical activity has positive effects on academic performance, including achievement in math tests and reading, academic grades and perceptual skills. Involvement in sport and physical education can play a significant role in the enrichment of a child’s social life and the development of social interaction skills
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