Age as a determining variable in the practice or abandonment of physical exercise among young people

Background Numerous studies have reported a gradual decline in the practice of physical exercise with age, confirming high dropout rates in the adolescent period. The aim of this study was to investigate the motivation or barriers that lead to greater or lesser adherence to physical exercise among c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-06, Vol.16 (6), p.e0253750-e0253750
Main Authors: Portela-Pino, Iago, Valverde-Esteve, Teresa, Martínez-Patiño, María José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Age
Biology and Life Sciences
Body image
Child development
Children
Chronology
Demographic aspects
Education
Empowerment
Exercise
Health aspects
Hypotheses
Medicine and Health Sciences
Motivation
People and Places
Physical exercise
Physical fitness
Physical training
Prevention
Quality of life
Questionnaires
Schools
Self image
Social interactions
Social Sciences
Students
Sustainable development
Teenagers
Values
Well being
Young adults
Youth
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Summary:Background Numerous studies have reported a gradual decline in the practice of physical exercise with age, confirming high dropout rates in the adolescent period. The aim of this study was to investigate the motivation or barriers that lead to greater or lesser adherence to physical exercise among children and adolescents. Methods In this study, 1,081 individuals volunteered to participate [239 children (age: 10.89 ± .66 years) and 842 adolescents (age: 14.9 ± 1.75 years)]. For this purpose, we used the Self-Report on Motivation for Exercising (AMPEF) and Self-Report on Barriers to Exercising (ABPEF) questionnaires. Results The most significant motivational factors in the practice of physical exercise (in both children and adolescents) are competition, social recognition and challenge (t = -16.02, p < .001), prevention and positive health (t = 5.24, p < .001) and affiliation, fun and well-being (t = -19.54, p < .001), while the barriers focus on fatigue and laziness (t = -13.20, p < .001) and body image and physical-social anxiety (t = -5.71, p < .001). It is also observed that adolescents showed significantly higher motivation than children and greater presence of barriers in the practice of physical exercise. Conclusions The age is a determining variable to include in preventive and intervention programs for the practice of physical exercise.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0253750