The health-esteem model of motivation for exercise goals: A preliminary study

The Health-Esteem Model identifies four health-behavior motivational variables that involve thinking about self-determined ideals: health-esteem, goal alignment, goal feasibility, and goal investment. This study provides a psychometric foundation for using this model to understand motivation for exercise. A sample of 401 participants considering or pursuing exercise goals completed an online survey containing a new questionnaire assessing the four Health-Esteem Model variables, along with three measures of exercise and eight existing scales assessing types of personal motivation for exercise. The new scales each produced robust correlations with exercise, explained variance that could not be explained by existing scales, and demonstrated unique associations with scales involving similar types of evaluation. The sales had bell-shaped distributions with high ceilings, adequate test-information curves, and good fit to an expected factor structure. This study provides strong psychometric support for Health-Esteem Model variables which are theoretically important for health intervention research and distinct from existing scales.