Motivation of Children and Youth for Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v15i4.824Keywords:
Physical Activity, Children, Youth, Motivation, Self-Determination Theory, COVID-19, Behavioural RegulationAbstract
Only 25% of children and youth aged 10-17 are meeting the national guidelines for physical activity (PA) in Canada. COVID-19 pandemic regulations have additionally reduced the engagement of children and youth with leisure time PA. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate motivations for leisure time PA of children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic utilizing organismic integration theory (OIT). Methods: Participants were children and youth aged 11-14 years, living in Canada at the time of questionnaire completion. Motivations and regulations were assessed online using the Behavioural Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire version 3, and PA was assessed using the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire. Results: Higher levels of PA intensity were correlated with more autonomous forms of regulations and motivation, whereas lower levels of PA intensity were not significantly correlated with more controlled forms of motivation. Greater scores of the relative autonomy index predicted higher levels of PA intensity. Sex moderated the relationship between integrated regulation and PA, explaining 7-8% of the variance. Conclusions: Sex was the key predictor of PA outcomes, indicating other variables beyond regulations should be further explored regarding children and youth’s motivations for leisure time PA, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Downloads
References
Bauman, A. E., Reis, R. S., Sallis, J. F., Wells, J. C., Loos, R. J., & Martin, B. W. (2012). Correlates of physical activity: Why are some people physically active and others not? The Lancet, 380(9838), 258–271. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60735-1
Chicote-López, J., Abarca-Sos, A., Gallardo, L. O., & García-González, L. (2017). Social antecedents in physical activity: Tracking the self-determination theory sequence in adolescents. Journal of Community Psychology, 46(3), 356–373. doi:10.1002/jcop.21945
Cid, L., Monteiro, D., Teixeira, D., Teques, P., Alves, S., Moutão, J., … Palmeira, A. (2018). The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-3) Portuguese-version: Evidence of reliability, validity and invariance across gender. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01940
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155–159. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2013). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. New York and London: Routledge.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1104_01
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). Handbook of self-determination research. The University of Rochester Press: Rochester USA.
Dishman , R. K., McIver, K. L., Dowda, M., Saunders, R. P., & Pate, R. R. (2015). Motivation and behavioral regulation of physical activity in middle school students. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 47(9), 1913–1921. doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000000616
Drummond, M. (2020). Boys’ bodies: Sport, health and physical activity. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Duncan, L. R., Hall, C. R., Wilson, P. M., & O, J. (2010). Exercise motivation: A cross-sectional analysis examining its relationships with frequency, intensity, and duration of exercise. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7(1), 7. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-7-7
Eisenmann, J., Milburn, N., Jacobsen, L., & Moore, S. J. (2002). Reliability and convergent validity of the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire in rural 5th-grade school-children. Journal of Human Movement Studies, 43(2), 135–149.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical Power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. doi:10.3758/brm.41.4.1149
Fisher, R. A. (1915). Frequency distribution of the values of the correlation coefficient in samples from an indefinitely large population. Biometrika, 10(4), 507. doi:10.2307/2331838
Godin , G. (2011). The Godin-Shephard leisure-time physical activity questionnaire. . The Health & Fitness Journal of Canada, 18–22. doi:doi:10.14288/HFJC.V4I1.82
Government of Canada. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/canadas-reponse.html
Guerrin, E., Bales, E., Sweet, S., & Fortier, M. (2012). A meta-analysis of the influence of gender on self-determination theory’s motivational regulations for physical activity. . Canadian Psychology, 53(4), 291–300.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Educational International .
Ingledew, D. K., & Sullivan, G. (2002). Effects of body mass and body image on exercise motives in adolescence. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 3(4), 323–338. doi:10.1016/s1469-0292(01)00029-2
Janssen, I., & LeBlanc, A. G. (2010). Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and Youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7(1), 40. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-7-40
Markland, D., & Tobin, V. (2004). A modification to the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire to include an assessment of Amotivation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 26(2), 191–196. doi:10.1123/jsep.26.2.191
Martínez-Andrés, M., Bartolomé-Gutiérrez, R., Rodríguez-Martín, B., Pardo-Guijarro, M. J., & Martínez-Vizcaíno, V. (2017). “football is a boys’ game”: Children’s perceptions about barriers for physical activity during recess time. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 12(1), 1379338. doi:10.1080/17482631.2017.1379338
Moore, S. A., Faulkner, G., Rhodes, R. E., Brussoni, M., Chulak-Bozzer, T., Ferguson, L. J., … Tremblay, M. S. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 virus outbreak on movement and play behaviours of Canadian children and youth: A national survey. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17(1). doi:10.1186/s12966-020-00987-8
Owen, K. B., Smith, J., Lubans, D. R., Ng, J. Y. Y., & Lonsdale, C. (2014). Self-determined motivation and physical activity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Preventive Medicine, 67, 270–279. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.07.033
Pan, C.-Y., Chu, C.-H., Tsai, C.-L., Lo, S.-Y., Cheng, Y.-W., & Liu, Y.-J. (2016a). A racket-sport intervention improves behavioral and cognitive performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 57, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.009
Pan, C.-Y., Chu, C.-H., Tsai, C.-L., Lo, S.-Y., Cheng, Y.-W., & Liu, Y.-J. (2016b). A racket-sport intervention improves behavioral and cognitive performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 57, 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.009
ParticipACTION. (2020). Retrieved from https://participaction.cdn.prismic.io/participaction/f6854240-ef7c-448c-ae5c-5634c41a0170_2020_Report_Card_Children_and_Youth_Full_Report.pdf
Rhodes, R. E., Courneya, K. S., & Jones, L. W. (2005). The theory of planned behavior and lower-order personality traits: Interaction effects in the exercise domain. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(2), 251–265. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.04.005
Rhodes, R. E., Janssen, I., Bredin, S. S. D., Warburton, D. E. R., & Bauman, A. (2017). Physical activity: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions. Psychology & Health, 32(8), 942–975. doi:10.1080/08870446.2017.1325486
Rhodes, R. E., McEwan, D., & Rebar, A. L. (2019). Theories of physical activity behaviour change: A history and synthesis of approaches. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 42, 100–109. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.11.010
Sebire, S. J., Jago, R., Fox, K. R., Edwards, M. J., & Thompson, J. L. (2013). Testing a self-determination theory model of children’s physical activity motivation: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), 111. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-10-111
Seghers, J., Vissers, N., Rutten, C., Decroos, S., & Boen, F. (2014). Intrinsic goals for leisure-time physical activity predict children’s daily step counts through autonomous motivation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 15(3), 247–254. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.01.003
Sniehotta, F. F., Araújo-Soares, V., Brown, J., Kelly, M. P., Michie, S., & West, R. (2017). Complex Systems and individual-level approaches to population health: A false dichotomy? The Lancet Public Health, 2(9). doi:10.1016/s2468-2667(17)30167-6
Stockwell, S., Trott, M., Tully, M., Shin, J., Barnett, Y., Butler, L., … Smith, L. (2021). Changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: A systematic review. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 7(1). doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000960
Sánchez-Miguel, P. A., Leo, F. M., Amado, D., Pulido, J. J., & Sánchez-Oliva, D. (2017). Relationships between physical activity levels, self-identity, body dissatisfaction and motivation among Spanish high school students. Journal of Human Kinetics, 59(1), 29–38. doi:10.1515/hukin-2017-0145
Ullrich-French, S., McDonough, M. H., & Smith, A. L. (2012). Social Connection and psychological outcomes in a physical activity-based youth development setting. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 83(3), 431–441. doi:10.1080/02701367.2012.10599878
Wilson, P. M., Rodgers, W. M., Loitz, C. C., & Scime, G. (2007). “It’s who I am … really!’ The importance of integrated regulation in exercise contexts. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 11(2), 79–104. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9861.2006.tb00021.x
Wilson, P. M., Sabiston, C. M., Mack, D. E., & Blanchard, C. M. (2012). On the nature and function of scoring protocols used in exercise motivation research: An empirical study of the behavioral regulation in exercise questionnaire. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13(5), 614–622. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.03.009
World Health Organization. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Elizabeth Comeau, Ryan E. Rhodes, Ziba Vaghri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Terms of Publication
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the Health & Fitness Journal of Canada’s right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The Contributor (author(s)) represents and guarantees that the Contributor is the sole proprietor of the work and the Contributor has full power to make this Agreement and grant that the work does not infringe the copyright or other proprietary right of any other person; and the work contains no libellous or other unlawful matter and makes no improper invasion of the privacy of any other person. The Contributor also represents and is responsible for the accuracy of the work.
- The Contributor will read, correct, and return promptly galleys and page proofs to the Editor (or designate). The Contributor will be responsible for the completeness and accuracy of these corrections. If the Contributor does not return galleys and page proofs within the schedule agreed upon with the Editor (or designate), the Publisher may proceed without the Contributor corrections.
- When applicable, the Contributor agrees to obtain written permissions and letters of agreement for all matter contained in the work that is protected by existing copyright, paying any permission fees for the use of text or illustrations controlled by others, and furnishing the Publisher with written evidence of the copyright owner’s authorization to use the material.
- When applicable, the Contributor agrees to obtain written permission for inclusion of any photographic materials involving a human subject, and provide the Publisher with written evidence of the subject’s authorization to use this material. In the case of subjects who have not reached the age of majority, the Contributor agrees to obtain and furnish the Publisher with written permission from the parent and/or legal guardian.
- The Contributor may draw on and refer to material in the work in preparing other articles for publication in scholarly and professional journals and papers for delivery at professional meetings, provided that credit is given to the work and to the Publisher.
- This agreement may not be changed unless the Contributor and the Publisher agree to the change by means of a formal addendum signed by the Contributor and the Publisher’s representative.
- This agreement shall be construed and governed according to the laws of the province of British Columbia and shall be binding upon the parties hereto, their heirs, successors, assigns, and personal representatives. Should any formal proceedings related to this agreement be brought, such formal proceeding may be brought only in the province of British Columbia.
By submitting an article to the Health & Fitness Journal of Canada the Contributor has accepted and agreed to all terms outlined in the copyright notice.
