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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
The relationship between the environment and physical activity-related motivational trajectories
Georgia Gidney1, Jason N Bocarro2, Kyle Bunds2
1Chair of Sport and Health Management, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
None:
The study explores motivational profiles for physical activity, using self-determination theory's full continuum of motivational regulations, and examines their stability over three months. Furthermore, it investigates whether physical environment and community characteristics are associated with transitioning between profiles, as well as the sociodemographic differences in these motivational transition pathways. Data were collected from 305 U.S. residents at three time points. The three profiles-'low in motivation' (23.5 % of the sample in wave 1), 'self-determined motivation' (41.4 %), and 'ambivalent motivation' (35.0 %)-were relatively stable. Staying in the low-in-motivation profile was negatively associated with being active in social settings, community support, perceived environmental restorativeness, and availability of physical activity opportunities. Having a higher education and income, being male, employed, married or in a partnership, and identifying as White were associated with being in a motivationally positive profile in the last wave of the study. These profiles reported higher activity and life satisfaction.
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