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Published on: March 20, 2012
Exercise motives among university students - A Brazil-Portugal transnational study
Lucas Arrais Campos1,2,3, Adrielly Dos Santos4, Mafalda Margarida Basto Sampaio5
1Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Background:
Identifying the motives why people exercise is interesting for the planning of effective health promoting strategies.
Objectives:
To 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.
Methods:
One 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%).
Results:
EMI-2 factor model was explained by 5 factors and presented adequate fit (χ 2/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.
Conclusion:
The 5-factor model is suggested for a comprehensive assessment of motives for exercise. Individual characteristics should be considered for development of tailored protocols.
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