MOTIVES FOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PARTICIPATION AMONG LEBANESE ADULTS AGED 18 TO 50 YEARS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

ABSTRACT Background: Sports participation motivations can be intrinsic, extrinsic, or even amotivational. Few studies on adult participation in PA have been found in the Lebanese context. This study aims to: a) investigate significant differences in sports participation motivation across gender, age, occupation, and time of practice, and b) investigate sports participation motives that discriminated the best between those variables. Material and methods: The Arabic version of the Sport Motivation Scale was collected electronically from 531 volunteers practicing regular PA for the last six months. Gender, occupation, marital status, and time of practice were all analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal Wallis Test with 0.05 as level of significance. Results: Internal motivation subscales (particularly the intention to accomplish) were the most influential motives for both genders. A significant difference across gender was reported in the extrinsic motivation and amotivation subscales. Furthermore, age, occupation, marital status, and time of practice show significant differences in motivation factors either dependent or regardless of gender distribution (p<0.05). Conclusion: no significant differences in the intrinsic motivation for sports participation between genders. Other factors, on the other hand, had a substantial impact. Research contribution: these findings are intended to contribute to a better understanding of differences in motivation for participating in PA and to aid in its promotion among Lebanese adults