Purpose: To survey the participation motives of children and adolescents in Taiwan and to examine the effects of gender and grade and the amount of physical activity. Methods: A total of 3,321 students, grade 3 to 9 (1,701 boys, 1,620 girls), from various regions of Taiwan were surveyed via questionnaires. Results: 1. Descriptive analyses showed that motives related to fitness and skill enhancement ranked the highest for all ages. 2. Factor analysis showed 6 categories of participation motives (49.73% total variance explained), namely, fitness and skill enhancement, social expectation, competition and challenge, social reinforcement, fun and friendship, and team interaction. 3. MANOVAs found a significant gender effect (Wilks' λ=.94, F(subscript (7, 3213))=31.33, p<.001). Boys scored higher than girls in the amount of physical activity and in most of the other participation motives (except team interaction). Grade was also found to have a significant effect. (Wilks' λ=.78, F(subscript (42, 15106))=19.30, p<.001). Fun and friendship increased as grade increased but scores of for the other motive categories decreased. The amount of physical activity increased as grade 1 increased to grade 6 but decreased thereafter and 9 graders had the least amount of activity. Conclusion: This study categorized the participation motives in physical activities of children and adolescents in Taiwan, and health related reasons were reported as the most important. However, participation motives and the amount of physical activity changed as a function of gender as well as the age of development.
Purpose: To survey the participation motives of children and adolescents in Taiwan and to examine the effects of gender and grade and the amount of physical activity. Methods: A total of 3,321 students, grade 3 to 9 (1,701 boys, 1,620 girls), from various regions of Taiwan were surveyed via questionnaires. Results: 1. Descriptive analyses showed that motives related to fitness and skill enhancement ranked the highest for all ages. 2. Factor analysis showed 6 categories of participation motives (49.73% total variance explained), namely, fitness and skill enhancement, social expectation, competition and challenge, social reinforcement, fun and friendship, and team interaction. 3. MANOVAs found a significant gender effect (Wilks' λ=.94, F(subscript (7, 3213))=31.33, p<.001). Boys scored higher than girls in the amount of physical activity and in most of the other participation motives (except team interaction). Grade was also found to have a significant effect. (Wilks' λ=.78, F(subscript (42, 15106))=19.30, p<.001). Fun and friendship increased as grade increased but scores of for the other motive categories decreased. The amount of physical activity increased as grade 1 increased to grade 6 but decreased thereafter and 9 graders had the least amount of activity. Conclusion: This study categorized the participation motives in physical activities of children and adolescents in Taiwan, and health related reasons were reported as the most important. However, participation motives and the amount of physical activity changed as a function of gender as well as the age of development.