Changing trajectory of daily physical activity levels among at-risk adolescents: influences of motivational mechanisms

BACKGROUND: Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the purpose of this study was to determine changes in the 16-week moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) trajectory of underserved adolescents who participated in the Connect through PLAY afterschool program intervention and the effects of changes in participating adolescents’ intrinsic and autonomous extrinsic motivations on their MVPA trajectory over the 16-week intervention. METHODS: A subsample of 113 adolescents (56.64% female; 61.06% African American; average age = 11.29) provided complete data throughout the 16-week intervention were examined. Adolescents’ objective daily MVPA was measured using 7- day accelerometer data. Changes in adolescents’ intrinsic motivation and autonomous extrinsic motivation were assessed using subscales from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory [1] and the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire [2] respectively. A hierarchical linear model was built and tested to address the research aims. RESULTS: The results of hierarchical linear models showed that, on average, youth daily MVPA increased 6.36 minutes in each 8-week period. Intrinsic motivation change, but not autonomous extrinsic motivation, was a positive and significant level-2 predictor of daily MVPA changes. CONCLUSION: The findings provide significant evidence suggesting a benefit of integrating SDT-based approaches and further suggest that nurturing intrinsic motivation can be an effective approach to supporting youth daily MVPA in under-resourced afterschool programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Connect Through PLAY: A Staff-based Physical Activity Intervention for Middle School Youth (Connect). https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03732144. Registered November 6(th), 2018.