The effects of goal setting on female middle school students' physical activity levels and motivation toward exercise

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1996) has identified regular participation in physical activity as an important determinant of health. Unfortunately, many people are not getting an adequate amount of physical activity---60% of adults and 50% of teens are not physically active on regular basis, and female adolescents tend to decline in physical activity levels from age twelve. This study was designed to investigate the effects of goal setting on female middle school students' physical activity levels and motivation toward exercise. Forty-six eighth grade females, enrolled in six, intact physical education classes from one K--12 charter school in the southeastern United States, were recruited for this study. A one-week baseline and six-week intervention was conducted to collect physical activity levels (step counts) by using the Yamax SW-701 electronic pedometer. The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2) was used to collect the motivation scores prior to and after the study. Participants were randomly assigned into either a goal-setting or "do your best" group. Participants in the goal-setting group used goal-setting strategies to include provide physical activity information, self-mentoring, feedback, resetting goals, and analyzing their own exercise behavior. The results indicated there were significant main effects of time (7 weeks) and interaction of time by group for step counts. Similarly, there was a significant interaction effect of time by group in motivation (autonomy), but no main effect of time was found. It was concluded that the use of a pedometer along with goal setting strategies did help motivate students to increase step counts.