Exploring Motives and Barriers to Exercise among “At-risk and Obese” Filipino College Students

Exercise is a critical component of physical activity that has been a trend and a challenge to many educational institutions. The steadfast increase in the percentage of obesity in the world was even heightened due to the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic. With these in mind, the researchers aimed to explore the perceived motives and barriers to exercise among “at-risk and obese” Filipino college students using the free-listing methodology. This quantitative-descriptive study considered 355 purposively selected students from a comprehensive state university in Pampanga, Philippines, who were categorized above their normal body mass indices. Responses in the free list were coded using the subscales of the Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 (Mullan et al., 1997) for the motives, while the subscales of Myers and Roth (1997) were adopted for barriers. It was found out that most of the subscales from EMI-2 that involve motives to exercise are still apparent in the present day. The motives indicated in the results were primarily health-related and for self-satisfactory causes. On the other hand, most of the barriers identified in the 1997 subscales were still relevant and evidenced in the contemporary time, even amid a global health concern, since most of them were still identified concerning the listed responses. Furthermore, emerging motives and barriers were also discussed in the study. The results provided clear-cut inputs for educational. institutions to facilitate the development of exercise programs that are adherent to what motivates the students and reconsider potential hurdles that may impede such physical activity participation.

Keywords – exercise motivation, free-listing methodology, obesity, physical activity, physical education