Motivation behind running among older adult runners

Patxi León-Guereño,Mateusz Rozmiarek,Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko,Héctor Galindo-Domínguez,Eneko Balerdi-Eizmendi

doi:10.1186/s13102-021-00366-1

Abstract

BackgroundRecreational running has greatly increased over the last decade, and different research has tried to understand the motivation that leads these amateur athletes to run. However, most research has focused on adult athletes, while the motivation behind older adult athletes has been overlooked.MethodsThe aim of this research was to analyse the motivational aspects of amateur runners aged over 50 years, and to consider the influence that years of practice, type of participation and some socio-demographical variables have on these older adults’ motivation behind running. 244 older adult amateur athletes in total completed an online survey with the 56 items contained in the motivation of marathoners scales (MOMS), 108 of whom were female (44%), and 136 were male runners (56%). Athletes were asked about their years’ running experience (< 1 year, 1–5 years, 6–10 years, > 10 years), their participation in running events (recreationally, half marathon, marathon, ultramarathon) and age (ranges 50–60, more than 60 years), gender (male, female), family life (whether in a relationship or not), and whether they had children (yes, no).ResultsThe results showed statistical differences in the nine MOMS dimensions in terms of years’ running experience and participation in different running events. Moreover, older adult runners’ gender and age subsequently showed statistical differences with five and six motivational factors respectively, while athletes that did not have children were more likely to run regarding competition and showing recognition. Family life did not show any statistical association with any of the dimensions on the scale in this population, while regression analyses showed that, mainly, years’ running experience and participation were positively predicted, together with most motivational dimensions, while having children was negatively predicted in some of them.ConclusionsThis study showed that older adult runners’ reasons for participating differ from those obtained in previous studies, especially regarding training experience and participation in events. Therefore, the older adult population should be specifically addressed.

Highlights

Recreational running has greatly increased over the last decade, and different research has tried to understand the motivation that leads these amateur athletes to run
León‐Guereño et al BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil (2021) 13:138 research has focused on athletes’ performance [5, 11,12,13], we can find some previous research on master athletes [14] and elderly motivation toward physical activity [15] or sport participation [16], it can be said that little research has been undertaken to try and explain amateur runners’ psychological, physiological, and pathophysiological aspects
Most of the research related to running motivation has been carried out on marathon runners, especially since Masters et al [34] developed the motivation of marathoners scale (MOMS), an instrument that has been mostly used in this research area

Summary

Introduction

Recreational running has greatly increased over the last decade, and different research has tried to understand the motivation that leads these amateur athletes to run. Apart from marathoners’ motivation behind participating [29, 35,36,37,38,39,40], athletes’ reasons for participating have been analysed in ultramarathons [30, 41,42,43], half-marathons [44, 45], park runs and city trails [46], with urban runners [47, 48], and even by comparing different distances such as 5 k, half marathons, full marathons, and ultramarathoners [28, 33] This worldwide phenomenon, even retaining to some extent the original question as to why runners voluntary expose themselves to such strain [34], this type of research has been developed in different countries. Some studies have recently compared these types of motivation behind running cross culturally, in an attempt to ascertain whether there are any differences in reasons for participating between United Kingdom and Indian runners [33]

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