Background/Purpose
The use of collegiate recreation facilities has received increased attention because of obesity and fitness concerns of the collegiate population. Limited research has examined the relationship between constraints and the use of recreational services with mixed results. The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the perceived constraints (interpersonal, intrapersonal, structural) related to recreational facility participation among college students.
Method
Participants were 153 randomly selected undergraduate and graduate students (males=72; females=81). Participants were evaluated with the Constraints to Physical Activity instrument (Cronbach .71-.75) and data were analyzed using ANOVA procedures in SPSS, p<.05.
Analysis/Results
A significant difference was found by year in college on intrapersonal constraints F(2,147) = 4.061, p=.019, ƞρ2= .052 and interpersonal constraints F(2,147) = 4.97, p=.008, ƞρ2=.06. Graduate students (M=9.5 ± 3.39) held lower intrapersonal constraints than freshman/sophomore students (M=12.40 ± 2.35) and junior/senior students (M= 12.90 + 2.50). Female graduate students (M=13.45 ± 1.02) held significantly less interpersonal constraints compared to male freshman/sophomore (M=16.04 ± 1.74), junior/senior (M=16.86 ± 1.51) students and female graduate students (M=17.46 ±1.94).
Conclusions
The results support that self-awareness and not having friends to participate with impact participation levels of males more so than females and freshman/sophomores. Female graduate students appear to view not having friends to exercise with an issue of self- awareness as a barrier to recreation facility use.
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