UNIVERSITY STUDENTS�?¢�?�?��?�?� MOTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL AND SPORTS ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Miguel Cambronero, Josefa Eugenia Blasco, Esther Chiner y Ángel Gabriel Lucas-Cuevas

The purpose of this paper is to identify the university students’ motives to participate in physical and sports activities. It also aims to determine gender differences and to know where they practice these activities. A non-experimental descriptive study was conducted for this purpose. Four hundred students were selected using a non-probability sampling by quota procedure among all the colleges of the University of Alicante, to whom the MIAFD questionnaire (Pavón, 2004) was administered. Results indicate that most of the university population practiced physical and sport activities (58.7%). The most common reasons for participating in sports were: for fitness (85.9%), to release energy (80.8%) and to improve health (78.3%). On the other hand, the lack of time was the main reason for not practicing physical and sports activities. Competition and self-improvement are motives more frequently adduced by male students than female participants.