Motivational Factors in Physical Activity Engagement
Summary
Motivational factors underpin individuals’ decisions to initiate, sustain and adapt physical activity across diverse contexts. These drivers span intrinsic motives—such as enjoyment, challenge and mastery—and extrinsic motives including appearance, health benefits and social recognition. The interplay between individual beliefs (notably self-efficacy), perceived barriers (time constraints, competing demands), and social influences (support from peers, family or coaches) shapes behavioural regulation. Self-determination theory provides a framework for understanding how autonomy, competence and relatedness foster more self-determined forms of motivation, which in turn predict persistence and adherence. Environmental aspects—accessibility of facilities, quality of coaching, digital platforms—and economic considerations further modulate engagement. Cross-cultural and lifespan perspectives reveal that age, gender and activity type influence the relative importance of different motives. Together, this body of work highlights the need for interventions that enhance intrinsic satisfaction, bolster confidence and reduce barriers, thereby promoting long-term physical activity and its attendant health benefits.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Motivational Factors in Physical Activity Engagement publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in motivational factors in physical activity engagement across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Intrinsic motivation: Engagement for the inherent enjoyment of the activity.
Extrinsic motivation: Engagement driven by external outcomes such as appearance or rewards.
Self-efficacy: Belief in one’s capacity to execute behaviours necessary to achieve desired outcomes.
Social support: Perceived encouragement and assistance from social networks influencing persistence.
Behavioural regulation in exercise: Framework categorising motivation along a continuum from controlled to autonomous.
References
- Impact of In-Person and Mobile Exercise Coaching on Psychosocial Factors Affecting Exercise Adherence in Inactive Women With Obesity: 20-Week Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research (2025).
- What Makes Individuals Stick to Their Exercise Regime? A One-Year Follow-Up Study Among Novice Exercisers in a Fitness Club Setting. Frontiers in Psychology (2021).
- Motives and barriers to initiation and sustained exercise adherence in a fitness club setting—A one‐year follow‐up study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (2020).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.