| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the present study was to analyze the changes of physically active interests in relation to age and sex and the relation between the manifest physical activity and the motives for it. Two different sets of data were collected for the study: 1) A cross-sectional inquiry by questionnaires in November-December 1977 (n =3, 106) and 2) a longitudinal inquiry by the same questionnaire (Autumn 1980-Spring 1982) (n= 112) in two upper secondary schools in Jyväskylä. The former data was collected by the. stratified cluster sampling representing the Finnish boys and girls on the 5th to 6th and on the 8th and 9th grades of comprehensive schools (l 1-to-16-year-olds) and on the 2nd to 3rd grades of upper secondary schools (17-to-19-year-olds). The latter data, which was not representative, was used in this study only for reliability measurements. The relation between manifest physical activity and the motives for it was clear-cut in many respects. The motives for motor ability showed the strongest relation to reasoning about interests (cognitive aspect of physical activity), participation in sports club training, and the intensity (strenuousness) of physical activity. The recreational motives became more important in older age groups and correlated with the reasoning about and the independency of interests as well as with the frequency of physical activity. Social motives were not so important among older pupils as at the age of 11 to 13. However, they were strongly appreciated among older sports club participants. Motives for outdoor activities differed clearly from the other motives. They were the most typical among those who did not participate in sports clubs and were more appreciated among the girls than among the boys, being also typical of those whose physical activity was unstrenuous and greatly dependent on the weather and the comrades. Performance-orientation in motives (achievement motivation) was more typical of the boys than of the girls and the most typical of the sports club participants. Generally, these motives lost their meaning after the age of 13; they were, however, highly appreciated by the sports 'enthusiasts' in the older age groups, too. The motives for health and physical condition showed 'normative' and 'functional' traits. The meaning of the former ones clearly decreased in the puberty. Functional health motives were somewhat more typical of the boys than of the girls and were appreciated by those whose physical activity could be considered strenuous and 'internalized' (reasoning about interests). | en |
