Motivation and enjoyment of leisure time physical activity: a comparison between students with and without migration background

Background: Several studies have examined the physical activity engagement of adolescents in Switzerland. They have shown, that adolescents with a migration background tend to be less physically active than native Swiss adolescents. As a possible reason, a lack of motivation has been suggested.
Objective: The goal of the present study was to find out whether and how the cultural background and gender of Swiss adolescents correlates with their motivation for leisure time physical activity engagement. In addition this study should verify the correlation between physical activity engagement and intrinsic motivation. The initial assumption was that male native Swiss adolescents show the highest motivation for leisure time physical activity engagement and female adolescents with a migration background the lowest. Further it was assumed that physical activity engagement correlates positively with intrinsic motivation.
Methods: Students (n=715) from different schools were surveyed using questionnaires regarding their physical activity engagement (referring to a short form of the IPAQ), their motivation for physical activity (referring to the SIMS and PACES) and their cultural background. The students were then divided into four groups with different migration background. These groups were then compared to each other. Results: There were no significant differences between adolescents with and without migration background. Neither were there any differences between male and female adolescents. The correlations between the migration and gender groups and the motivation was ρ=.020 to ρ=.085. However a significant positive correlation between physical activity engagement and intrinsic motivation could be found (ρ=.294)
Conclusion: Neither the migration background nor the gender of Swiss adolescents show any correlations with motivation for leisure time physical activity engagement. However physical activity engagement is positively correlated with intrinsic motivation. This suggests that a lack of motivation is not the main problem for fluctuations in physical activity engagement among Swiss adolescents.
Keywords: leisure time physical activity, motivation, migration