Abstract:

Although exercise motivation is a well-established research area in sport and exercise psychology in the West, relatively little work on this topic is available in the Philippines. The purpose of this study was to explore possible motives for exercise behaviour according to Filipino youth using an open-ended methodology. One hundred twenty-nine Filipinos aged 15 to 21 years old responded to a questionnaire asking them to free-list reasons for exercise. 497 responses (M = 3.9 per respondent) were coded by two independent judges using themes derived from the Exercise Motivation Inventory subscales (EMI-2; Markland & Ingledew, 1997). Data on exercise frequency and types of activities engaged in were also collected. The three most frequently identified reasons for exercise were: weight management (“to lose weight”), strength and endurance (“para lumakas”, which means “to increase strength”), and appearance (“to have a sexy body”). Challenge and competition were the least frequently cited reasons for exercise, according to respondents. Results also indicated motives that were outside those identified in the EMI-2 subscales, including: as a requirement, to boost self-esteem, and social influence factors. Future directions for research on exercise in the Philippines, including the construction and validation of a scale for exercise motivation among Filipinos, will be discussed.