Differences in university students’ motivation between a required and an elective physical activity education policy

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine differences in students’ physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise metabolic equivalent units (METs) between universities with different physical activity education (PAE) policy arrangements (ie, a required PAE vs. an elective PAE). Participants: Participants (N = 953) were purposefully recruited from two universities with different PAE policies 1 week before the start of fall term 2015. Methods: Participants completed questionnaires assessing their physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise METs. Results: The results of this study suggest that having a required PAE policy allows for more students with lower self-determined forms of motivation (ie, amotivation) to be reached in comparison to the elective PAE policy. Conclusions: This finding highlights that a primary value of having a required PAE policy is its ability to reach less motivated students.

Keywords:

• Exercise
• higher education
• psychology
• self-determination theory
• social ecological model
• sport for all

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Oregon State University.