Motivation and physical activity across Chinese adolescents: Based on latent profile analysis

Despite known links between motivation and physical activity, latent profiles of motivation among Chinese adolescents remain unexamined. Using the person-centered approach, this paper explores the relationship between adolescent motivation and physical activity. We aim to identify the latent motivation profiles and examine how these profiles differential predict physical activity (PA) levels, with attention to gender and age variations. This study recruited 571 adolescents (M age = 11.995, SD = 1.519) in southern China by the scale of Sport Motivation Scale and International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form. We conducted latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify motivation subgroups using Mplus. MANOVA and ANOVA were employed to compare PA differences across profiles, genders, and education levels. The results indicate that three profile model is the optimal model: Low Motivation-High Amotivation (8.45%), Moderate Motivation-High Amotivation (60.61%), and High Autonomous Motivation (30.94%). The subgroup with higher scores of intrinsic motivation and external motivation reported more PA. Moreover, male’s PA is significantly more active than female adolescents, while older adolescents have less PA than younger adolescents. This study identified adolescents with different motivation profiles and PA. Findings suggest the need for more personalized strategies to promote adolescent participation in PA and provide a novel insight into intervention for adolescents with low motivation. Further research could be measured by objective methods and long-term design.