New Study Shows Lack of Motivation is a Top Reason College Students Don't Exercise

In the October 2008 issue of the Journal of Exercise Physiology, a well-researched topic was explored in a new way. The goal of the study was to figure out what keeps college students from exercising and what would motivate them to exercise more. The researchers stressed the importance of exercise physiologists knowing the reasons that people do and don't exercise so that they will be better equipped to help people start and stick to being physically active.

This study was purposely structured differently from other studies on the same topic. Popular studies in the past used closed-ended questions when surveying participants. This study used open-ended questions in an effort to get a more broad understanding of exercise behavior. The thought being that this approach would yield some new information about motivation and barriers. The last comparable study was done 12 years before this one.

About 66% of Americans are overweight or obese and 85% of them don't regularly exercise. Most Americans that are overweight don't exercise and half of the ones that do quit after 6 months. They study cites that motivation may be the best way to predict whether someone will regularly exercise.

About the participants

A total of 1044 college-aged people participated in the study. About 66% were women and 34% were men. The researchers did not provide the name of the college. They would only identify it as a "large Midwestern university". Note that the average age was 20 but the ages ranged from 17 to 55 years old. About 89% of the participants classified themselves as White, non-Hispanic.

Findings

Out of the whole group, most (77%) exercised. Among the reasons they gave for exercising were general health, maintain fitness, stress reduction, enjoyment, and feeling good.

Most (76%) wanted to exercise more. They listed the following things as reasons they would be able to do that: more time, less school work, more motivation, fewer commitments, and sport to train for.

Among those that didn't exercise, 88% of them want to exercise but gave the following reasons for not doing so: no time, laziness, other priorities, no motivation, and no energy.

Some things they said would encourage them to exercise were more time, having someone else to workout with, a conveniently located exercise facility and more motivation.

Interesting facts to note

The researchers made an interesting and relevant point in the conclusion of the report. They cite the fact that many Americans are in need of help from exercise physiologists, but most of them will not exercise. That means these professionals can be of no service to them. They advise exercise professionals to interview their clients about the issues raised in this study in order to better guide them in sticking to their physical activity.