Motivation to exercise and Percieved Barriers - Men and Women's Exercise Habits

• Regular exercise habits are hard for many people both regarding establishment and adherence, which in many cases is caused by lack of motivation. Since the human body needs a certain amount of physical activity to function properly it is important to help people to motivate themselves in order to promote physical and mental health in society (Lindwall & Faskunger, 2003). The interest in motivation related research is, according to Roberts (2001) huge and holds as much as one third of all psychological research. A comparatively small part of this research treats perceived barriers to exercise and how individuals overcome these obstacles to adhere to their exercise habits over time. Such knowledge could be useful to challenge the drop-out rates by helping those who recently have initiated new exercise habits to maintain them, e.g. by providing useful strategies to overcome these barriers. These strategies could consist of predetermined coping strategies and alternatives to use when facing obstacles towards planned activities. The theoretical framework used was Achievement Goal Theory (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Elliot, 1983; Maer & Nicholls, 1980; Nicholls, 1981; 1984; 1989 ref. ur Roberts, 2001), Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles et. al 1983, 1984 ref. in Eccles & Whigfield, 2002), Relapse Prevention Theory (Brownell, Marlatt, Lichtenstein & Wilson, 1986), Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1977 ref. in Bandura, 2001) and Social Exchange Theory (Thibaut och Kelley, 1959).

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

barriers

exercise

motivation

Social work

Socialt arbete

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)