Abstract
Many individuals do not engage in sufficient physical activity due to low perceived benefits and high perceived barriers to exercise. Given the increasing incidence of obesity and obesity related health disorders, this topic requires further exploration. We used the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale to assess perceived benefit and barrier intensities to exercise in 200 non-exercising female university students (mean age 19.3 years, SD = 1.06) in the UK. Although our participants were selected because they self reported themselves to be non-exercising, however they reported significantly higher perceived benefits from exercise than perceived barriers to exercise [t(199) = 6.18, p < 0.001], and their perceived benefit/barrier ratio was 1.33. The greatest perceived benefit from exercise was physical performance followed by the benefits of psychological outlook, preventive health, life enhancement, and then social interaction. Physical performance was rated significantly higher than all other benefits. Psychological outlook and preventive health were not rated significantly different, although both were significantly higher than life enhancement and social interaction. Life enhancement was also rated significantly higher than social interaction. The greatest perceived barrier to exercise was physical exertion, which was rated significantly higher than time expenditure, exercise milieu, and family discouragement barriers. Implications from this investigation for the design of physical activity programmes include the importance, for females, of a perception of high benefit/barrier ratio that could be conducive to participation in exercise. Applied interventions need to assist female students to ‘disengage’ from or overcome any perceived ‘unpleasantness’ of physical exertion during physical activity (decrease their perceived barriers), and to further highlight the multiple health and other benefits of regular exercising (increase their perceived benefits).
Highlights
The benefits of regular physical activity (PA) for physiological and psychological health are well documented [1]
For some benefit items, the sample exhibited somewhat neutral scores (e.g., ‘exercise helps me decrease fatigue’; ‘exercise improves the quality of my work’; and, items of the social interaction sub-scale); or scores that approached the “agree” option of the response scale (e.g., ‘my disposition is improved by exercise’; ‘exercising increases my mental alertness’; ‘exercise allows me to carry out normal activities without becoming tired’; ‘exercising makes me feel relaxed’; and, ‘I will live longer if I exercise’)
It is possible that their perceived benefit/barrier ratio of 1.33 might not be sufficient to motivate these females to be physically active
Summary
The benefits of regular physical activity (PA) for physiological and psychological health are well documented [1]. The 2008 survey of Queenslanders, Australia [2] showed that 53% of the adult population aged 18−75 years did not report PA levels sufficient for health benefits, with their median sitting time being 4.7 hours per day. In 2003, insufficient PA was the third largest single determinant of burden of disease in Queensland, associated with 6.2% of the burden for males and 6.8% for females [3]. Such findings are echoed in other high-income countries such as the UK and the USA
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