Exercise motives among university students - A Brazil-Portugal transnational study

Lucas Arrais Campos; Adrielly Dos Santos; Mafalda Margarida Basto Sampaio; João Marôco; Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1009762

Exercise motives among university students - A Brazil-Portugal transnational study

Front Psychol. 2022 Nov 14:13:1009762. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1009762. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lucas Arrais Campos^{1

2

3}, Adrielly Dos Santos⁴, Mafalda Margarida Basto Sampaio⁵, João Marôco⁵, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
² Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
³ Department of Morphology and Children's Clinic, School of Dentistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil.
⁵ William James Center for Research (WJCR), University Institute of Psychological, Social, and Life Sciences (ISPA), Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Background: Identifying the motives why people exercise is interesting for the planning of effective health promoting strategies.

Objectives: To estimate the psychometric properties of the exercise motivations inventory (EMI-2) in Brazilian and Portuguese university students, and to compare motive-related factors for exercise among students.

Methods: One thousand Brazilian (randomly splitted into "Test sample" [n = 498] and "Validation sample" [n = 502]) and 319 Portuguese students participated in this cross-sectional study. Motives for exercise were evaluated using EMI-2. Exploratory factor analysis was performed in the test sample. Then, confirmatory factor analysis was performed in the validation and Portuguese samples. The EMI-2 scores were compared according to sex, exercise, and weight status (ANOVA, α = 5%).

Results: EMI-2 factor model was explained by 5 factors and presented adequate fit (χ ²/df ≤ 3.2; CFI ≥ 0.9; TLI ≥ 0.9; RMSEA ≤ 0.07; and α ≥ 0.83). The motives for exercising were mainly related to psychological and interpersonal factors for men, health-related factors for women, and body-related factors for overweight and obese individuals. People who practice exercise had higher EMI-2 scores.

Conclusion: The 5-factor model is suggested for a comprehensive assessment of motives for exercise. Individual characteristics should be considered for development of tailored protocols.

Keywords: exercise; motivation; psychometrics; university students; validation study.