engleski

Relationship between motivation for exercise and frequency of exercise with the appearance satisfaction in young women

Relationship between motivation for exercise and frequency of exercise with the appearance satisfaction in young womenRegular physical activity represents a healthy way of controlling body weight. Our understanding of motives for exercise has significant role in prevention of negative body-image, extreme dieting behavior and overweight. Some individuals have the proper motivation, self-confidence, and abilities needed to enjoy a physically active lifestyle (Longmuir &Tremblay, 2016), while others exercise for the wrong motives, which can lead to dysfunctional exercise (Dumitru, Dumitru, & Maher, 2018).Data from 262 female participants, aged from 18 to 29 (M = 21.52, SD = 1.86) were used. Body mass index (BMI) ranged from 18.03 to 31.51 (M = 22.09, SD = 2.69). In our sample, 22.1% of girls had below average weight, 62.3% had normative body weight, and 15.6% were overweight. More than 70% of participants (N=190) are engaged in some physical activity.Data were gathered on the frequency of physical activity, body weight and height. Participants also filled Exercise Motivation Inventory (EMI-2, Markland & Ingledew, 1997) and Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-4R, Schaefer et.al., 2016). Both questionnaires had good psychometric properties.Using 2-way ANOVA we compared motivation for exercising and the internalization of the ideal body appearance with regard to the frequency of exercise and BMI. Girls who exercise multiple times a week, compared to those who do not exercise or exercise only once a week, emphasize revitalization, enjoyment, challenge, appearance and strength and endurance as main motives for exercising. In addition, girls who exercise 2 or 3 times a week emphasize affiliation as a motive, while for those who exercise 4 or more times a week, a significant motivation to exercise is physical attractiveness. Girls who exercise 4 or more times a week have internalized the ideal muscular body more than girls who are exercising less frequently or not at all.Affiliation and weight management, as motives for exercise differs for the girls regarding their BMI. Girls with lower BMI emphasize affiliation as a motive, while girls with higher BMI give more value to the body weight control. Overweight girls perceive morepressure to change their appearance compared to girls with normative weight or girls below average weight. They perceive more pressure from the family, peers, significant others (e.g. romantic partners, trainers, teachers) to look better, to reduce body fat and to look thinner.BMI has important role in perceiving sociocultural pressure to change appearance, but it is not related to exercise frequency. Identification of main motives for exercise can help in creating training programs that emphasize healthy motives, such as refreshment, affiliation, enjoyment, health preservation, and give less importance to potentially damaging motives, like the sense of physical attractiveness and muscularity.

motives for exercise, body appearance, body mass index, sociocultural pressure

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