Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 14-18).

In recent years, the progress of medical care has increased the longevity much. Hence, the aged people hold a growing proportion of total population in developed countries. Besides, people in Taiwan have more spare time because the authority regulates workers in Taiwan own two holidays per week. And under such trend, people put sports recreation and health care at a premium. Among a lot of sports that aged people engage in, Tai Chi Chuan is considered to benefit our health. At this moment, over 100 countries have established Tai Chi Chuan associations and some activities of them call more than 10 thousand people to participate in. However, most of present researches just focus on the advantages that Tai Chi Chuan do for physical and mental functions. But there is still in lack of research about their participative motives. Hence, this research is making efforts to find out the primary motives that influence the silver-haired people to participate in Tai Chi Chuan, and then separate the aged people into different groups by their motives. And the promoters will be able to work out their marketing strategy toward these aged participants. About the research methods, this research adopts in-depth interview first. By abundant experience of Tai Chi Chuan masters, the participative motives of their students and the features of Tai Chi Chuan are found out. Later, through a focus group interview, the motives of Tai Chi Chuan participants are also discussed. Then, these found motives are used to make the questionnaire. Because of lack of member book of the participants the questionnaires are distributed on a convenient basis. In the research, 380 questionnaires are distributed to silver-haired participants who are over 50 years old. 280 questionnaires are received and the valid samples attain to 259. After factor analysis, five factors are extracted, including ¡§Extrinsic behavior and identity¡¨, ¡§Improving physical and mental health¡¨, ¡§Pursuit of Tai Chi Chuan philosophy and skills¡¨, ¡§Recreation, escape from pressure, and making friends¡¨, ¡§Longevity and soul inspiration¡¨, and ¡§Body shaping¡¨. And then according to cluster analysis, three groups are separated on the basis of the five factors. Each of them is named ¡§Pursuit of extrinsic identity¡¨, ¡§Pursuit of soul inspiration and mental health¡¨, and ¡§Pursuit of balanced physical and mental health¡¨. Finally, by Chi-square test and ANOVA analysis, this research discovers that the average years of practice is significant related to ¡§Extrinsic behavior and identity¡¨, ¡§Improving physical and mental health¡¨, ¡§Longevity and soul inspiration¡¨. Therefore, promoters can find the needs of the silver-haired Tai Chi Chuan participants by these chief motives and design unique activities for each segment to make their promotion more effective.

No description available.