The purpose of this study was to examine college students' motivations to be physically active by merging the perspectives of self-determination theory and the transtheoretical model. The secondary purpose was to examine the effects of a required physical activity course on college students' levels of physical activity. The premise is that both the theory and model can be used to help predict physical activity outcomes. Participants were 277 male and female students at a small private college. Motivation, self-determination, stage of change, self-efficacy, decisional balance, and leisure time activity levels were assessed using an online survey. Results revealed that activity levels did vary across stages of change and that the participants became more self-determined as they moved across the stages of change. Intrinsic motives were predictors of self-determination and motives were found to differ across the stages of change. Decisional balance scores were higher in the later stages of change (maintenance, action, and preparation) while the self-efficacy scores were lower in the early stages (contemplation and precontemplation) than all other stages. No significant group differences were found between students who had or had not completed the physical activity course for RAI, decisional balance, and self-efficacy. However, group differences in motives revealed that interest/enjoyment, competence, and social motives were rated as more important by those who had taken the course than those who had not. There were no differences on self-reported levels of physical activity. Results suggest that currently used approaches in required courses may not be effective in increasing physical activity levels of college students. The incorporation of the transtheoretical model with self-determination theory provides a framework to investigate the motivational levels of college students and could be incorporated in attempts to improve the effectiveness of required courses designed to facilitate their pursuit of a lifetime of physical activity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11062006-143723 |
| Date | 15 November 2006 |
| Creators | DeLong, Lori Lynn |
| Contributors | Maria Kosma, Frank Gresham, Melinda Solmon, Amelia Lee, Dennis Landin |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11062006-143723/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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