Motivation for youth participation in sport and physical activity: Relationships to culture, self-reported activity levels, and gender

The purpose of the present investigation was to compare participation motives of youth in competitive sport versus physical activity using culture, self-reported physical activity levels, and gender as independent variables. Participants were 1,472 boys (n=822) and girls (n=650) from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Three self-report inventories were administered to all participants to determine the amount and frequency of participation as well as participation motives for competitive sport and physical activity. Results from principal component factor analyses revealed stability across cultures in the four factors describing competitive motives (i.e., competition, social/energy, fitness/fun, teamwork) as well as from the four factors describing physical activity motives (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic, fitness, energy release) accounting for 44% and 51% of the variance, respectively. Results from the 3 × 2 × 3 (Physical Activity Frequency × Gender × Culture) MANOVA's on the competitive sport and physical activity questionnaires revealed significant multivariate main effects for all three independent variables for both questionnaires. Post hoc tests indicated that all four factors were related to these main effects across competitive and physical activity motives. Results are discussed in terms of the differing motives for sport and physical activity and the importance of understanding the particular social milieu in which these activities occur.