Background/Purpose Campus recreation programs offer valuable opportunities for physical activity, assisting the promotion, education, and development of a healthy lifestyle. Despite the apparent benefits of an active lifestyle, studies indicate physical fitness as a major problem on college campuses. This study examined the perceived physical fitness benefits associated with participation in group fitness, intramural sport, or sport club, while controlling for goal orientation, to assess campus recreation programs' impact upon student participants.
Method A 44-item survey instrument, based upon the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and Quality and Importance of Recreational Services perceived benefit scale, was administered to 1,172 student participants at a post-secondary institution.
Analysis/Results Analysis of covariance revealed significant differences [F(2,1170)=18.04, p<.0001] in mean perceived physical fitness benefits between the three programs, with sport clubs reporting the greatest mean benefit, followed by group fitness and intramural sports. Task orientation was found to have a significant positive influence [F(1,1170)=45.23, p<.0001] on perceived fitness benefits, while ego orientation was insignificant. An item analysis of the nine fitness components was also conducted.
Conclusions With multifarious campus recreation programs offered to reach a broad portion of the student body, these results suggest that sport club programs offer more physical benefits. Therefore, sport clubs should receive emphasis, but ideally not to the detriment of other programs. The positive linear relationship between task orientation and perceived benefits supports the enhancement of a task orientation for participants. This assessment can assist the development of campus recreation programs to produce greater benefits for students.
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