Abstract
Different approaches are being taken to clarify the role of various factors in the development of physical activity behaviors. Genetic studies are a new area of physical activity research and also the motives for physical activity have been widely studied. The purpose of this paper is to review the findings emerging from the longitudinal genetic studies on leisure-time physical activity and to evaluate the associations between motivational factors and leisure-time physical activity. The focus is to review recent findings of longitudinal Finnish twin studies. The results of the latest longitudinal Finnish twin studies point to the existence of age-specific genetic and environmental influences on leisure-time physical activity. Variations in environmental factors seem to explain the observed deterioration in leisure-time physical activity levels. A decline in genetic influences is seen first from adolescence to young adulthood and again from the age of thirty to the mid-thirties. In the Finnish twin participants, mastery, physical fitness, and psychological state were the major motivation factors associated with consistent leisure-time physical activity behavior. The results also indicate that intrinsic motivation factors may be important for engagement in leisure-time physical activity.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies have revealed that physical activity can reduce risks for obesity as well as preventing several chronic diseases and even reducing mortality [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The results indicate that intrinsic motivation factors may be important for engagement in leisure-time physical activity
Several studies have provided evidence that both genetic and environmental influences and motives are associated with physical activity behavior
Summary
Epidemiological studies have revealed that physical activity can reduce risks for obesity as well as preventing several chronic diseases and even reducing mortality [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Motivation is a personal characteristic that may be one of the key factors to help understand why some people spend their leisure time undertaking physical activity. This may be the reason why motives have been widely studied. The main aim of the present paper is to review the recent findings on genetic and environmental influences on the longitudinal changes of leisure-time physical activity behavior as revealed in the Finnish twin studies: first, from adolescence to young adulthood and, second, over a 6-year follow-up period in adulthood. We have used the same terms used in the original papers
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