Childhood obesity has emerged as a public health crisis in the United States. Schools are uniquely situated to combat this disturbing trend and offer untapped opportunities for promoting physical activity and health for all school-aged children. It has been recognized that understanding motivation characteristics and its influence on health-related outcomes is the key to develop and evaluate effective obesity-prevention strategies. Using expectancy-value theory as a representative of motivation, this study was designed to examine urban inner-city children’s motivation profiles in school physical activity and their associations with physical activity engagement, healthy eating enjoyment, perceived quality of life, and body composition.
Method:
338 participants (192 females and 146 males, age range=8-12 years, mean age=9.40 years) in six urban elementary schools completed questionnaires assessing relevant psychological and behavioral constructs. Body weight and height were measured with portable scales and in-school physical activity engagement was quantified using Actigraph accelerometers. A two-step cluster analysis determined the profiles that would result from the interactions among expectancy-value theory variables (i.e., perceived competence, importance, interest, and usefulness) and in-school physical activity engagement. A MANOVA was used to analyze differences between clusters.
Analysis/Results:
The cluster analysis with Silhouette measure of cohesion and separation supported a three-cluster solution: the high-motivated and high PA engaged (cluster 1: N=98), high-motivated but low-PA engaged (cluster 2: N=110), and low-motivated (cluster 3: N=130). To understand the differences among the clusters, a MANOVA with the cluster groups as the independent variable was conducted. Results indicated significant overall differences among cluster groups, Wilks’ Λ=.14, F (12, 660) = 75.25, p<.01. Univariate follow-ups using Fisher’s LSD procedure revealed that there were significant differences in expectancy-value theory variables and physical activity engagement among the three clusters. Children in clusters 1 & 2 reported higher healthy-eating enjoyment and positive quality of life than those in cluster 3. In contrast, children’s body mass index (BMI) in cluster 1 was significantly lower than those in cluster 2 & 3.
Conclusions:
Results support that there is a dynamic web of interrelations among motivation, physical activity engagement, and health-related outcomes. Expectancy, task value, and physical activity engagement in school may play different roles in enhancing urban children’s healthy living. School-based intervention programs must take both physical activity and motivation in physical activity into consideration simultaneously when designing effective promotion strategies.