Differentiating gender, BMI level and year levels motives for physical activity participation: with special reference to university of Kelaniya

Abstract

Despite the many clear benefits of on activity, lifestyle, lack of Physical Activity (PA) is a significant health problem in the university population. A key issue in Physical Activity research is developing an understanding of Motivation. Although PA takes many forms, most research designed to enhance motivation for and ignores participation. The purpose of this study was to analyze motives for engaging in PA and determine and describe motivational differences related to gender, year level and body mass index in a university population. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The study was conducted in the Faculty of Social Science. The subject includes a random sample selection of 200 university students in fourth and second year student. Data were collected from MPAM-R (Motives for physical activity Measure-Revised) questionnaire. The motives of Gender, BMI (Body Mass Index), Year Levels and ANOVA to determine if there is a significant difference between the mean scores of motivation for PA participation of university students. Results further show that there is a significant difference between the five factors for motivation for each Gender, BMI, and fitness as determined by one-way ANOVA (F (1,198) = 4.587, P=.033). The study recommends that the University of Kelaniya further supports students’ interest for leisure related PA, and to possibly organize various sports clubs to create an avenue for students to play and complete in an activity that is interested in.