Impact of SDT on Effort and Future Intention for Physical Activity

Background/Purpose: Summer camps may present a vehicle to counter the trend of physical inactivity among at-risk adolescents (Ramsing & Sibthorp, 2008). For all adolescents to engage in physical activity and enjoy it, it is crucial to understand why and how they might want to participate (Power, et al., 2011). According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT: Deci & Ryan, 2002), affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes are determined by distinct motivational regulations that lie on a continuum from amotivation to intrinsic regulation. To date, SDT-based research has not examined direct relationships between self-determined motivation and cognitively and physically adaptive outcomes among at-risk adolescents in a summer sports camp setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which at-risk boys’ self-determined motivational regulations in a summer sports camp predicted effort and intention for future physical activity.

Method: 102 at-risk boys, aged 11-15 (M =12.93; SD=1.22), participated in camp activities such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, and flag football as well as group activities such as capture the flag and Wild, Wild, West for three weeks. During Week three, participants completed three well-validated questionnaires - Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-2); Effort in Physical Activity Questionnaire; Intention for Future Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire.

Analysis/Results: Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that effort was significantly predicted by identified regulation, β=.414, p<.01, accounting for 20% of the variance. Additionally, intention for future physical activity was significantly predicted by intrinsic regulation, β=.589, p<.01, accounting for 23% of the variance.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that promoting self-determined forms of motivation (i.e., identified and intrinsic regulation) may elicit adaptive outcomes such as increasing effort and intentions for future leisure-time physical activity among these at-risk boys. Camp instructors might provide rationales acknowledging the boys’ health-related benefits or personal values during the camp activities.  Doing so has resulted in increased effort during activities (Zhang, Solmon, Kosma, Carson, & Gu, 2011). Further, satisfying the boys’ interests and needs during the camp activities may be an effective strategy to elicit enhanced participation in physical activity beyond the summer camp setting (Taylor, Ntoumanis, Standage, & Spray, 2010).