The Interaction of Goal Orientation and Stage of Change on Exercise Behavior in College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and examine the reliability and validity of the Perceptions of Success Questionnaire for Exercise (POSQ-E), and to link goal orientations to self-reported physical activity patterns and perceptions. The final sample consisted of 569 recreation center participants who utilized the facility 3.77 days a week (SD = 1.94) and were active for an average of 70.18 minutes (SD = 33.3) per session. Sixty-three percent of respondents (n = 358) self-reported meeting adult guidelines for regular exercise (150 minutes per week). Using a single-item ladder, participants were assigned across the five stages of exercise readiness respectively: precontemplation (6.8%); contemplation (4.9%); preparation (26.2%); action (23.8%); and maintenance (38.3%). Task scores were shown to increase across the stages of change while ego scores decreased slightly. An extreme median split of the goal orientation scores yielded a sub-sample of 235 participants with 76 (32.3%) in the high task/high ego, 49 (20.9%) in the high task/low ego, 47 (20%) in the high ego/low task, and 63 (26.8%) in the low ego/low task group. The POSQ-E was shown to have good internal reliability, factor validity and convergent validity. Convergent validity linking the transtheoretical model and self-reported physical activity behavior with goal orientation theory may provide a new direction for applied research in exercise behavior.