Motives for physical activity in older men and women : A twin study using accelerometer‐measured physical activity

Abstract
Motives for physical activity may vary considerably by age, sex and the level of physical activity. We aimed to examine motives for physical activity in older men and women with different physical activity levels as well as whether genetic and/or environmental factors explain those motives. Finnish twins (mean age 72.9 years, 262 full twin pairs) self‐reported their motives for physical activity. Time spent on moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity was monitored using a hip‐worn accelerometer. Comparisons between the different physical activity groups of older twins (n=764–791/motive dimension) were analysed using the Wald test, and effect sizes were calculated as Cohen’s d. Quantitative genetic modelling was used to estimate genetic and environmental contributions. For both sexes, the most frequently reported motives for physical activity were physical fitness, health maintenance and psychological wellbeing. Conforming to others’ expectations was more important for men than for women (p<0.001, Cohen’s d=0.38), while appearance (p=0.001 Cohen’s d=‐0.24) and psychological wellbeing (p=0.02, Cohen’s d=‐0.17) were highlighted by women. Most of the motive dimensions differed significantly between the physically active and inactive individuals. It was estimated that 5–42% of the variation in motives was contributed by genetic factors and 58–95% by environmental factors. The result that environmental factors contribute in a great deal to motives indicates that interventions to motivate physically inactive older individuals to be physically active can be successful. However, a personalized interventions are needed because sex and the level of physical activity were found to be associated with older individuals’ motives for physical activity.
Main Authors
Format
Articles Research article
Published
2020
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202004142729Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0905-7188
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13673
Language
English
Published in
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
Citation
  • Aaltonen, S., Waller, K., Vähä‐Ypyä, H., Rinne, J., Sievänen, H., Silventoinen, K., Kaprio, J., & Kujala, U.M. (2020). Motives for physical activity in older men and women : A twin study using accelerometer‐measured physical activity. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 30(8), 1409-1422. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13673
License
CC BY 4.0Open Access
Additional information about funding
THE MOBILETWIN study was supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (grant OKM/56/626/2013 to U.M.K). The research work has further been supported by the Academy of Finland (grant 266592 to S.A. and K.S., and grants 100499, 205585, 141054, 265240, 263278, 264146 and 312073 to J.K.), the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (to S.A. and K.S.), the Juho Vainio Foundation (to S.A. and K.S.), and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (to S.A.).
Copyright© 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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