Motivation and Commitment to Sports Practice During the Lockdown Caused by Covid-19.

Marta Leyton-Román,Ruth Jiménez-Castuera,Ricardo De La Vega

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.622595

Abstract

In Spain, the state of alarm declared on March 14, 2020 caused changes in the population in relation to the habits of physical activity and sports practice. This study analyzed what motivational variables predicted the self-efficacy and commitment to sports practice, as well as the differences according to gender, during lockdown and the progressive de-escalation caused by COVID-19, using the theory of self-determination as a theoretical framework. The study sample was conformed of 179 subjects (90 men and 89 women) between 18 and 65 years of age (M = 28.64; SD = 10.28). The Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (BRSQ), the Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise Scale (PNSE), the Physical Activity Self-Efficacy scale, and the Sport Commitment scale were applied. The most relevant results have showed significant differences in favor of the male gender in terms of levels of controlled motivation and amotivation, as well as higher levels of self-efficacy and basic psychological need of autonomy. Furthermore, the regression analysis has revealed that self-efficacy and current commitment to sports practice were explained by a variance of 57 and 64%, respectively, due to autonomous motivation and the basic psychological need of competence. Therefore, the basic psychological need of competence should be fostered in order to increase the levels of self-determined motivation, self-efficacy, and commitment to sports practice of the population.

Highlights

Due to the global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) caused by the Covid-19 virus, many changes have taken place affecting work, personal, and psychological factors, and as a result, the way people live
The aims of this study were: (a) to determine the levels of motivation, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, perception of self-efficacy, and commitment to sport of people practicing physical activity, during confinement and progressive de-escalation; (b) to determine whether there were differences between men and women in relation to these variables, to establish personalized strategies according to gender, in case these were necessary; and (c) to determine which motivational variables predict the perception of self-efficacy and commitment toward sports practice, in order to propose strategies to increase the levels of these variables and, to extend the continuity of sports practice affected by the confinement
The highest mean value was obtained for the variable autonomous motivation to practice physical activity, whereas the lowest value was obtained for the variable amotivation to practice physical activity

Summary

Introduction

Due to the global pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) caused by the Covid-19 virus, many changes have taken place affecting work, personal, and psychological factors, and as a result, the way people live. In general terms (depending on the Autonomous Community), this confinement has lasted approximately 3 months. This has meant changing the daily routine, overnight, both in the way of working, which in most cases has shifted to teleworking, and in how we live our daily lives, influencing healthy lifestyles such as eating, drug consumption, rest habits and, the practice of physical activity. Some of the most important benefits at the physical level are the improvement of body composition, image, metabolic level, and cardio respiratory capacity, helping to prevent diseases such as morbidity, sarcopenia, hypertension, and even cancer (among others; González-Carcelén et al, 2018; Jodra et al, 2019) It produces a positive psychological effect by reducing the rate of illness due to anxiety and depression (Chan et al, 2019)

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