LEARNED RESOURCEFULNESS, SELF-MOTIVATION, AND COMMITMENT AS PREDICTORS OF AEROBIC EXERCISE ADHERENCE IN COLLEGE STUDENTS
LEARNED RESOURCEFULNESS, SELF-MOTIVATION, AND COMMITMENT AS PREDICTORS OF AEROBIC EXERCISE ADHERENCE IN COLLEGE STUDENTS
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Date
1990
Authors
Mahoney, Colleen Anna
Advisor
Allen, Roger
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Abstract
In this study of exercise adherence among
traditional-age college students, a number of variables
were used to discriminate between those who
adhere to regular aerobic exercise, those who adhere
to regular non-aerobic exercise, and those who do not
exercise regularly but intend to do so. The relative
importance of learned resourcefulness, self-motivation,
commitment to aerobic exercise, and
various demographic variables to predict exercise
adherence was assessed. The instruments employed in
this study were a demographic questionnaire, the Self-Control
Schedule, the Self-Motivation Inventory, and
the Commitment to Aerobic Exercise scale. In order to
test the hypotheses in this study, one-way analyses of variance and a multiple discriminant function analysis
were conducted. Chi-square analyses were used to
assess the relationship between demographic variables
and exercise group membership. Furthermore, a two-way
analysis of variance (group x gender) was performed
on the Self-Control Schedule, Self-Motivation Inventory,
and Commitment to Exercise scale.
Hypotheses were generated for the following
variables: weekly time commitments, learned resourcefulness,
self-motivation, and commitment to aerobic
exercise. Three of these were fully supported and
one was partially supported by the data. In order of
their relative importance, the following three psychological
variables distinguished between the three
exercise groups: commitment to aerobic exercise,
self-motivation, and learned resourcefulness.
Among the demographic variables examined in this
study, only gender discriminated significantly between
the three exercise adherence groups. Males were much
more likely to be non-aerobic exercise adherers than
females, and females were much more likely to be non-exercisers
than males. weekly time commitments, class
standing, and place of residence explained little of
the variance among the three groups. The analyses of this study indicated that psychological variables were
the strongest discriminators among exercise adherence
behavior patterns. Moreover, these findings dispute
the notion that barriers, such as time commitments,
prevent college students from engaging in regular,
Physical exercise. Implications of these findings and
strategies for enhancing exercise adherence among
College students are discussed. Specifically, it
appears that interventions need to emphasize affective
strategies in order to modify attitudes toward regular
exercise.