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The Effects of Goal Setting on Female Middle School Students' Physical Activity Levels and Motivation Toward Exercise

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1996) has identified regular participation in physical activity as an important determinant of health. Unfortunately, many people are not getting an adequate amount of physical activity – 60% of adults and 50% of teens are not physically active on regular basis, and female adolescents tend to decline in physical activity levels from age twelve. This study was designed to investigate the effects of goal setting on female middle school students' physical activity levels and motivation toward exercise. Forty-six eighth grade females, enrolled in six, intact physical education classes from one K-12 charter school in the southeastern United States, were recruited for this study. A one-week baseline and six-week intervention was conducted to collect physical activity levels (step counts) by using the Yamax SW-701 electronic pedometer. The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2) was used to collect the motivation scores prior to and after the study. Participants were randomly assigned into either a goal setting or "do your best" group. Participants in the goal setting group used goal-setting strategies to include providing physical activity information, self-mentoring, feedback, resetting goals, and analyzing their own exercise behavior. The results indicated there were significant main effects of time (7 weeks) and interaction of time by group for step counts. Similarly, there was a significant interaction effect of time by group in motivation (autonomy), but no main effect of time was found. It was concluded that the use of a pedometer along with goal setting strategies did help motivate students to increase step counts. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Sport Management, Recreation
Management, and Physical Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2004. / June 23, 2004. / Goal Setting in Sports and Physical Activity, Female Adolescents - Middle School Students, Measurement of Physical Activity, Goal Setting Theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas Ratliffe, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tonya Toole, Outside Committee Member; Charles Imwold, Committee Member; Kristie Walsdorf, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_175817
ContributorsWang, Shu-Hwa (authoraut), Ratliffe, Thomas (professor directing dissertation), Toole, Tonya (outside committee member), Imwold, Charles (committee member), Walsdorf, Kristie (committee member), Department of Sport Management (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University, Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf
RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them.

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