Analysis of course type, gender, and personal incentives to exercise

206 women and 88 men enrolled in classes requiring different amounts of physical activity were administered the Personal Incentives for Exercise Questionnaire. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance, with course type and gender as the categorical independent variables and 10 subscale scores representing incentives to exercise as the multivariate dependent variables, was completed. Canonical discriminant analysis was used to identify which of the incentives is most useful in discriminating among participants in active and less active classes or between men and women. For main effects, analysis indicated an over-all significant difference for both course type and gender. Men scored higher than women on activity and on competition, for example, while women scored higher on appearance and weight management.