Self-regulation strategies and exercise A cross-sectional study analysing different self-regulatory strategies and their association with exercise in young adults (16-25 years)

Abstract

Regular exercise is important for one’s physical health. Nevertheless, research has shown that with increasing age the amount of exercise performed by people is decreasing. The use of self-regulation strategies may determine exercise engagement in young adults. Examining the association between self-regulation strategies and exercise may be of use in order to design effective interventions that aim to increase exercise in young adults via self-regulation strategies. Therefore, the present research investigated the relationship between different types of self-regulation strategies used by young adults (16-25 years) and the degree of exercising performed by them. Data for this cross-sectional study (N = 48) was obtained via an online questionnaire distributed via Facebook and LinkedIn. A linear regression analysis was performed to analyse the association between ten selfregulation strategies and exercise in young adults. The self-regulation strategy selfmonitoring (β = .45, t = 2.66) was found to have a significant association with exercise. Intrinsic motivation was found to have a moderating effect on the association between the self-regulation strategy self-monitoring and exercise. It can be concluded that young adults who score higher on the self-monitoring strategy, also score higher for exercise. This association is positively moderated by intrinsic motivation.