Relations of Perceived Physical Self-Efficacy and Motivational Responses toward Physical Activity by Urban High School Students

Abstract

To be effective in promoting physical activity among urban, minority adolescents, the factors and psychological processes that motivate them to engage in and maintain a physically active lifestyle should be examined. The relation of physical self-efficacy and motivational responses toward physical activity in 46 urban minority adolescents was explored. As hypothesized, there were significant positive relationships among Percieved Physical Ability, Physical Self-presentation Confidence, Effort, and Enjoyment (coefficients ranged from .29 to .80), suggesting that participants who had higher perceived physical ability were likely to report higher perceptions of self-presentation, more enjoyment of physical activity, and harder work in physical activity. These results indicate specific relationships among Effort, Enjoyment, Perceived Physical Ability, and Physical Self-presentation Confidence in this sample. Physical self-efficacy appears to be a stronger predictor of motivational responses in physical activity. Practical implications for physical educators include incorporating strategies known to develop self-efficacy, such as mastery experiences involving successive trials of increasing difficulty, self-observation, external feedback, peer modeling, and verbal persuasion.