The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the motives for engaging in sports activities and the self-determination index (SDI) and how this in turn predicts the intentionality of future elementary school teachers to be physically active.
Method: A total of 331 first-year students of the teacher training degree participated, 34.4% men and 65.6% women (M = 20.02; SD = 2.55). They answered the following questionnaires: "Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-3", "Motives for Physical Activity Measure-Revised" and "Intention to be Physically Active".
Results: Fitness, fun and care of one's appearance are the motives most valued by university students. A regression analysis (structural equation modeling) revealed that appearance and social motives were negatively related to SDI, although the model clearly predicted the intention to be physically active (R2 = 0.74). A second model, which positively related the appearance and competence motives with the intention to be active, improved the coefficient of determination (R2 = 90) and fit index.
Conclusions: The motives for engaging in physical activity influence university students in different ways in relation to the SDI and strongly predict the intention to be physically active.
Keywords: motivation; physical activity; self-determination index; university students.