Scheduled for Research Consortium Sport Management, Recreation and Leisure Poster Session, Friday, April 28, 2006, 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


Exploring the Behavioral Intention of Regular Exercise in Tamkang University Students Through the Theory of Planned Behavior

Chung-Long Yu, Chung-Cheng Chen, Tsai-Chin Chan and Chien-Chih Chou, Taipei Physical Education College, Taipei, Taiwan

In this study, the Theory of Planned Behavior was used to better understand university students' intentions to take regular exercise. The author examined the antecedents of university students' regular exercise behavior in the context of an integrated regular exercise behavior model. This model incorporated a wide variety of important factors from previous research on exercise behavior into a single theoretical framework provided by the Theory of Planned Behavior. The model was tested using data from a sample of 355 individual respondents, each of whom completed a Regular Exercise Questionnaire. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Primary findings were: (a) the results suggested that this model fits the data well and provides significant insights into the factors that influence students' behavior for taking regular exercise. (b) After conducting data, we found independent variables accounted for 75% unique variance in intentions. (c) Attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were positively related to intentions, with the former two variables accounting for the most variance. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical extensions, practical implications and future directions.

Key words: the Theory of Planned Behavior, exercise behavior, behavioral intention, Structural Equation Modeling


Keyword(s): college level issues, physical activity, sport management

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