The interaction of behavioral context and motivational-volitional factors for exercise and sport in adolescence: patterns matter

Gut, Vanessa; Schmid, Julia; Conzelmann, Achim (2020). The interaction of behavioral context and motivational-volitional factors for exercise and sport in adolescence: patterns matter. BMC public health, 20(1), p. 570. BioMed Central 10.1186/s12889-020-08617-5

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Abstract
Background:In order to generate more effective interventions to promote exercise and sport in adolescence, abetter understanding of the interaction of influencing factors across different levels is needed. In particular,motivation and volition for exercise and sport, as well as the context in which adolescents are doing exercise andsport, have been identified as important factors. Behavioral context refers to both the organizational setting, e.g.,doing exercise and sport in a club, and the social setting, e.g., doing exercise and sport with friends. Extendingprevious research, the present study applies a person-oriented approach and aims to identify typical behavioralcontext patterns and motivational-volitional patterns. To validate the patterns, it was examined whether they differconcerning the exercise and sport activity level. Furthermore, the study investigated how behavioral contextpatterns and motivational-volitional patterns interact.
Method:A cross-sectional design with 1155 adolescents (Mage= 15.29; 53% female) was applied. A latent profileanalysis was used twice to identify typical patterns: once with eight organizational and social setting factors toexamine behavioral context patterns, and once with five motivational-volitional factors to examine motivational-volitional patterns. To validate the patterns identified, the exercise and sport activity level were compared acrossthe patterns using Wald-tests. Finally, transition probabilities and odds ratios were calculated in order to investigatethe interaction of the behavioral context and motivational-volitional patterns.
Results:Four behavioral context patterns−differing in activity level−were identified: Mostly inactive, non-club-organized individualists, self-organized individualists and family sportspersons, and traditional competitive clubathletes with friends. Furthermore, five motivational-volitional patterns emerged with differing activity levels: threelevel patterns with overall low, moderate or high motivation and volition, and two shape patterns called theintention- and plan-less and the plan-less motivated. Regarding interaction, the results indicate that one behavioralcontext pattern is not solely responsible for moderate to high motivation and volition in adolescents.
Conclusion:Applying a person-oriented approach allows a more differentiated view of how behavioral contextand motivational-volitional factors interact within homogenous subgroups. This, in turn, provides a basis to designtailored multilevel interventions which account for the interaction of influencing factors across different levels

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