Motivation and planning as mediators of the relation between social support and physical activity among U.S. adolescents
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Motivation and planning as mediators of the relation between social support and physical activity among U.S. adolescents: a nationally representative study Kaigang Li1*, Ronald J Iannotti2, Denise L Haynie1, Jessamyn G Perlus1 and Bruce G Simons-Morton1
Abstract Background: More than half of U.S. high-school students do not meet the moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) 5 hours per week recommendation. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual dimensions (motivation and planning) mediate the relationship of social context with physical activity by integrating available measures of personal characteristic including internal/external motivations (derived from Self-Determination Theory -SDT]) for MVPA, MVPA planning, peer MVPA, and parental support to better understand adolescent MVPA. Methods: Survey responses of a nationally representative cohort of 11th graders (N = 2439) in the NEXT Generation Health Study were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Results: Adolescent MVPA was directly, significantly associated with MVPA planning (β = 0.17), peer MVPA (β = 0.21), and internal motivation (β = 0.50). Internal motivation was associated with peer MVPA (β = 0.31), parental support for MVPA (β = 0.16), and external motivation (β = 0.40). A significant relation between parental support and external motivation (β = 0.31) was also found. Conclusions: Adolescents with higher internal motivation and more active friends were more likely to engage in MVPA. The results are consistent with SDT and suggest that planning is an important construct for adolescent MVPA. Keywords: Physical activity, Motivation, Planning, Social support, Adolescents, SDT
Background The benefits of regular physical activity (PA) for adolescents include enhanced physical, psychological/mental, and social well-being [1,2]. Yet, there is still a large portion of adolescents who have not engaged in sufficient PA in the US. For example, in 2011 more than half of US highschool students engaged in PA less than 60 minutes/day on 5 or more days a week [3], the threshold in adolescence for decreasing the odds of obesity in subsequent adulthood [4]. Identifying and understanding determinants of PA are prerequisites for successfully promoting PA engagement among adolescents. * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Health Behavior Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, 6100 Executive Blvd, Bethesda, MD 20892-7510, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Motivation is essential for purposeful action, including PA [5]. Many theories of motivation [6,7] and motivationrelated constructs [8,9] have been examined to explain the goal-directed behavior of PA. In particular, SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) provides a well-validated framework for understanding the dynamics of motivation for the initiation and maintenance of PA [10]. However, SDT is best considered within a social context because SDT posits that different kinds of specifiabl
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