Children and young teens may be more likely
to exercise if they're motivated by fun and fitness rather
than weight concerns, a new study suggests.
In a study of 200 students (average age, 12-1/2 years)
at one Pennsylvania middle school, researchers found that
"personal fulfillment" was the only motivation to be active.
That meant that kids tended to exercise for the sake of
their health and athletic skills, and to simply feel good
-- and not in order to shed pounds or to emulate their
friends or parents.
The findings, according to the study authors, point to
a potential way to encourage more kids to exercise: highlight
the fun and fitness.
It was something of a surprise that middle-schoolers
would want to exercise for the health benefits and the
pure enjoyment, study co-author Katie Haverly told Reuters
Health.
One might expect that young adolescent girls, in particular,
would be more motivated by weight loss, noted Haverly,
who was with the State University of New York at Albany
at the time of the study. She is now based at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
But weight goals did not spur kids to exercise. In fact,
personal fulfillment was the only factor that was important
for all students, regardless of their weight. Even though
overweight children put more value on weight loss than
their thinner peers did, personal fulfillment was still
a more important motivation to be active, according to
findings published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent
Medicine.
Given the increasingly sedentary lifestyles U.S. children
are leading, experts believe it's important to find new
ways of motivating kids to get off the couch and away
from the computer.
If kids are indeed motivated by health, skill-building
and fun, then physical education in schools may be able
to play a key role, according to Haverly. Not all kids
have the athleticism or interest needed for organized
sports, she pointed out, so it's important for them to
have the chance to exercise in a non-competitive, health-focused
way.
In addition, she noted, exposing kids to a range of activities
in gym classes can help them find the ones that they enjoy
and might stick with.
Haverly said she believes school administrators and government,
through funding, should make physical education a greater
priority.
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,
December 2005.
