Exercise motives among university students – A Brazil-Portugal transnational study

Abstract

BackgroundIdentifying the motives why people exercise is interesting for the planning of effective health promoting strategies.ObjectivesTo estimate the psychometric properties of the exercise motivations inventory (EMI-2) in Brazilian and Portuguese university students, and to compare motive-related factors for exercise among students.MethodsOne thousand Brazilian (randomly splitted into “Test sample” [n = 498] and “Validation sample” [n = 502]) and 319 Portuguese students participated in this cross-sectional study. Motives for exercise were evaluated using EMI-2. Exploratory factor analysis was performed in the test sample. Then, confirmatory factor analysis was performed in the validation and Portuguese samples. The EMI-2 scores were compared according to sex, exercise, and weight status (ANOVA, α = 5%).ResultsEMI-2 factor model was explained by 5 factors and presented adequate fit (χ2/df ≤ 3.2; CFI ≥ 0.9; TLI ≥ 0.9; RMSEA ≤ 0.07; and α ≥ 0.83). The motives for exercising were mainly related to psychological and interpersonal factors for men, health-related factors for women, and body-related factors for overweight and obese individuals. People who practice exercise had higher EMI-2 scores.ConclusionThe 5-factor model is suggested for a comprehensive assessment of motives for exercise. Individual characteristics should be considered for development of tailored protocols.

Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: a psychometric investigation and evaluation of the influence of individual characteristics on social appearance anxiety in Brazilian adults who practice physical exercise

“…In this case, exercising can be an arduous task (Sabiston et al, 2018;Herring et al, 2021), so social physique anxiety can potentially hinder motivation for physical activity (Brunet and Sabiston, 2009). Therefore, not all people will adhere to the exercise in the same way or for similar reasons and it is necessary to develop individualized plans to understand the motives and underlying barriers (Campos et al, 2022).…”