Background/Purpose : Intrinsic motivation has been evident to promote children's physical activity (PA) levels (Parish & Treasure, 2003). However, little is known on the relationships between children's intrinsic motivation, perceived exertion and PA levels in exergaming. This study was designed to examine the relationships between children's intrinsic motivation, perceived exertion and PA levels in a Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) program, as well as the gender differences on children's different intensity PA levels.
Methods: A total of 158 fourth through sixth grade urban children participated in a 30-minute DDR program for 18 weeks beyond a 30-minutes physical education every week. Children's intrinsic motivation and rate of perceived exertion in DDR was measured with standardized questionnaires in the eighth week, followed by the measurement of their moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) levels in DDR via ActiGraph accelerometers for three weeks.
Analysis/Results : Regression analysis yielded that intrinsic motivation was the significant predictor for perceived exertion (ß = .19, p <.05); whereas perceived exertion was the only significantly predictor for their percentage of time spent in moderate to vigorous PA (ß = .15, p =.05). One-way MANOVA revealed that, boys spent significantly more percentage of time spent in moderate to vigorous PA than girls, F(1, 150)=14.75, p<.01; and less percentage of time spent in sedentary, F(1, 150)=15.68, p<.01.
Conclusions: The findings indicate that children who are intrinsically motivated tend to report high exertion, which may in turn be physically active in exergaming. Additionally, boys seemed to be more physically active than girls when playing exergaming.
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