Cross-cultural differences in exercise motivation among U.S. and Korean college students: evidence from the Exercise...

As college students increasingly face academic and social pressures, maintaining regular physical activity has become an important public health concern. However, Preliminary data indicate that physical inactivity remains a global public health concern, with college students experiencing barriers influenced by social and cultural factors. Thus, this study aimed to examine cross-cultural differences in exercise motivation among college students in the United States and South Korea.

Participants were recruited from two public 4-year universities located in the southern United States and from two 4-year universities in Korea. A total of 752 college students (373 U.S. and 379 Korean) were analyzed using the Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 (EMI-2).

The findings indicated that U.S. students generally exhibit higher motivation for exercise, particularly that inspired by stress management (p < 0.001), revitalization (p < 0.001), enjoyment (p < 0.001), and health-related factors, while Korean students prioritize social recognition (p = 0.007). Additionally, U.S. female students demonstrated greater motivation across all subscales than their Korean counterparts, whereas Korean male students emphasized challenge (p = 0.027) and social recognition (p < 0.001) more than U.S. males.

The present findings indicate that exercise motivation differs between U.S. and Korean college students across several motive dimensions. The results suggest that some exercise motives may be relatively stable across student populations, whereas others may be more sensitive to educational and social context. These findings may inform future efforts to design context-sensitive physical activity promotion strategies in university settings.