Exploring Physical Activity Commitment and Lapses: A Comparison of Sport and Exercise Motives and Involvement Opportunities

Abstract

This thesis aimed to determine which psychological factors enable adults to remain committed and to avoid lapses in physical activity (PA), and explored whether factors differed between sportspersons and exercisers. Three studies explored the importance of individual participatory motives (Markland & Ingledew, 1997), the total number of reasons motivating PA (Kruglanski et al., 2013) and the accommodation of involvement opportunities (Young & Medic, 2011), respectively. 252 (MAge = 47.2, SD = 6.0) active adults completed online questionnaires and self-identified as either being sportspersons or exercisers. Results show that greater number of motives, greater affordance of involvement opportunities, and three motives (enjoyment, stress relief, and social affiliation), facilitate commitment and lapse avoidance for sportspersons and exercisers alike. Sportspersons may also benefit from personal goals/challenges, but not from appearance motives. Overall, results indicated more similarities than differences between organized sport and exercise contexts for how motivational factors associated with adherence outcomes.