Exercise, physical activity, and self-determination theory: a systematic review
Teixeira and colleagues reviewed sixty-six studies on exercise motivation from the perspective of self-determination theory, covering experiments, cross-sectional surveys and studies that followed people over time, with actual or reported exercise as the outcome in every case. The consistent finding is that the kind of motivation matters more than the amount. More autonomous motivation, where exercise is done because it is valued or enjoyed rather than because it is required, predicts more exercise. Within that, a useful split appears: identified regulation, exercising because the results matter to you, predicts taking it up in the first place, while intrinsic motivation, exercising because the activity itself is enjoyable, predicts still doing it a long time later. Feeling competent at it, and having intrinsic motives, predicted participation across very different groups and settings. Evidence on other motives, including health and appearance, was mixed. This is the standard reference for the claim that exercise adopted for appearance rarely lasts, and it is a review rather than a trial.
Teixeira and colleagues reviewed sixty-six studies on exercise motivation from the perspective of self-determination theory, covering experiments, cross-sectional surveys and studies that followed people over time, with actual or reported exercise as the outcome in every case. The consistent finding is that the kind of motivation matters more than the amount. More autonomous motivation, where exercise is done because it is valued or enjoyed rather than because it is required, predicts more exercise. Within that, a useful split appears: identified regulation, exercising because the results matter to you, predicts taking it up in the first place, while intrinsic motivation, exercising because the activity itself is enjoyable, predicts still doing it a long time later. Feeling competent at it, and having intrinsic motives, predicted participation across very different groups and settings. Evidence on other motives, including health and appearance, was mixed. This is the standard reference for the claim that exercise adopted for appearance rarely lasts, and it is a review rather than a trial.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
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International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 9, 78. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-9-78
Where we use it
- Nobody Is Born Consistent, Why We Move
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The source
https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-9-78
DOI: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-78