The Relationship Between Active and Less Active Physical Activity Courses, Personal Incentives for Exercise, and Social Physique Anxiety

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to examine the personal incentives of students from a southeastern university in active (aerobics, fitness walking, & jogging) and less active (bowling, golf, & softball) physical activity courses. This study investigated differences between personal incentives to exercise and social physique anxiety based on gender and activity level. Moreover, analysis was performed to investigate a possible relationship between personal incentives and social physique anxiety. University students (N=490) from six different physical activity courses were administered the Personal Incentives to Exercise Questionnaire (PIEQ) (Duda & Tappe, 1989a) and the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) (Hart, Leary, & Rejeski, 1989). Separate independent samples t-tests and two-way ANOVAs were used to determine if differences exited between groups. Results revealed that males had higher fitness incentive scores than females. Overall, males and females were found to have mastery, weight management, agility, social recognition and competitive incentives. Females were found to have significantly higher SPAS scores than males. When activity level was analyzed, participants in the active physical activity courses were found to have high incentives for appearance, competition, health benefits, mental benefits, and weight management. Participants in the less active physical activity courses had a high incentive for competition. Discriminant analysis revealed that an individual\u27s personal incentive and SPAS scores could moderately predict his/her activity level (active or less active). Positive relationships were identified between the personal incentives (appearance, mental benefits, social recognition, & weight management) and social physique anxiety