COMPARISON BETWEEN MOTIVATIONS TO PRACTICE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BY GENDER AND TIME OF PRACTICING THE ACTIVITY IN A GROUP OF STUDENTS

The objective of this paper is to compare the different motivations a group of university students has to practice physical exercise, based on their gender and the time they have regularly practiced such physical activity. For this purpose, 272 subjects taking different independent non-credit physical activity classes and/or related topics were surveyed. Subjects were given a sociodemographic questionnaire (age, gender, time regularly practicing the physical activity). The EMI-2 (Exercise Motivations Inventory-2) was used to assess motivations to practice physical activity. Results significantly indicated (p> .05) that women relate body health as the motivation to practice physical activity. In addition, those who have regularly practiced the activity for over a year (p > .05) relate affiliation and social recognition as their main motivations to practice physical activity compared to those who have less time practicing. It is concluded that women’s greater affinity to body health may be mostly associated with social or personal perceptions, while the motivation of a social nature and affiliation in students who have practiced physical activity for longer may be related to a greater motivation towards a sense of belonging and social interaction