Abstrakt
The present study focuses on motivation to physical activity in Czech seniors from a social cognitive perspective. The researched sample consisted of 254 Czech older adults (average age 68.1 years), who were administered a battery of questionnaires measuring their self-rated participation in physical activity and related motivational constructs (e.g., perceived self-efficacy, perceived social support, self-regulation strategies such as goal setting, planning, self-monitoring).
Physical activity was significantly associated with self-efficacy (especially self-efficacy for lifestyle physical activity) and social support, although the respondents perceived a low level of support and did not report actively seeking additional support. Participants asserted that they predominantly set exercise goals but used low-quality goal setting strategies.
Also, they mentioned relatively high level of self-regulation strategies related to perceived importance of physical activity (such as perceiving exercise as a priority, goal setting and seeking reinforcements), on the other hand they seemed to lack some self-regulation strategies related to actual enactment of physical activity. In general, the relationship between self-regulation strategies and physical activity was relatively low which suggests that physical activity of our respondents has been motivated mostly by external or habitual factors.