Relationships Between Motivation Factors and Physical Activity Participation of University Students in Taiwan.

Date of Degree

5-2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Education

Advisor

William Carleton

Advisor

Susan Blackwood

Advisor

Jessica C. Kimmel

Advisor

Flor de Maria Garcia-Wukovits

Abstract

This study was a descriptive investigation employing a relational treatment of data. The purpose of this study was to investigate five factors of motivation: self efficacy, outcome expectation, internal locus of control, the drive to achieve, and outcome values, as well as the activity participation of selected university undergraduate students in Taiwan. In addition, the study examined these factors of motivation in connection to gender, school type, activity organization, and age. Past research has indicated that the lack of regular physical activity continues to be a major health problem and the youth of Taiwan continue to be less active as they age. The most rapid decrease in activity participation was found in the 18 to 24-year-old age group (Taiwan National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 2005). In order to make informed fitness curricular decisions, the researcher needed to know possible relationships between motivational factors demonstration that effect exercise participation of adolescents. The researcher administered the survey instrument (Appendix I) to one national university, Chiao Tung University and one private university, Chung Hua University in Silicon Village at Hsin Chu City in Taiwan. The total number of students who participated by responding to the survey was 1000. Of those, 41 indicated they were over 24 years of age, 28 indicated they were members of a varsity team or athletic club, and 21 did not fully complete the survey. For these reasons, 90 participants’ data were disqualified from being in the study, reducing the sample size to 910 (n=910). The most highly represented age category of those completing the survey was 20-21 years of age (60.3 % of the participants). The percentage of the participants who were 22 - 23 years old was the next largest group (18.9 %). The percentage of the participants who were 1 8 -1 9 years old was the third largest group (17.7 %) and the smallest percentage in the group of the participants were 24 years old (3.1%). There was more valid data from the public university undergraduate students (484) than the private university undergraduate students (426); in addition, more males (72.9 %) completed the survey than females (27.1 %). Among 910 participants, 76.6 % (697) of students indicated their participation in physical education activity class, 14.4 % (131) of students indicated their participation in intramural sports teams, and 9 % percent (82) of students indicated that they did not participate in any organized activity. This study used a quantitative survey methodology. Descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, post-hoc ANOVA, Spearman rho correlation, and linear regression were utilized to examine the research questions. The results indicated: (a) gender differences on self-efficacy, activity participation score, and drive for activity score; (b) age differences on internal locus of control; (c) various activity organization differences on self-efficacy, drive for activity and activity participation score; (d) university type differences on internal locus of control, drive to achievement and activity participation score; and (e) among all examined variables, perceived self-efficacy was the strongest correlated to physical activity participation for these Taiwanese university undergraduate students. The finding of this study provided information relevant to designing physical activity participation interventions targeted to Taiwanese adolescents.

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