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A Comparison between the Participation Motivation of Collegiate Boys and
Girls of Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abass in Public Sports
Mohammad Reza Shahabipour
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, College of Sports Management, Bandar
Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran
Mahdi Savadi
Qeshm Branch, Islamic Azad Univercity, Qeshm, Iran
(Corresponding Author)
Abstract
This study compared motivation to participate in public sports among students (girls and boys)
in Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas. It is an applied research based on its purpose.
Because the research aimed to explore the difference between the two genders for participation
rate in public sports, and it is a casual-comparative type. The population consists of all
undergraduate students in Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas in the first semester of years
93-94 that it equals 1159 people. A sample of 288 people was calculated on the basis of target
population number and using Cochran formula that was selected via appropriate stratified
random sampling. The sample was contributed in the study and eventually questionnaires
distributed among participants but only 259 questionnaires were returned and benefited. Data
were collected via using the 30-item questionnaire by Gill (2000) about motivation for
participation among athletes. Comparison of two independent samples namely independent
student T-test and ANOVA test were applied to analyze the data. Through studying the theories
of the research, there is no significant difference between girls and boys students in Islamic Azad
University of Bandar Abbas based on the motivation for participation in public sports. Also,
there is no significant difference in dimensions (affiliation motivation, entertainment motivation,
and competition motivation and learning skills) of public sports among students (boys & girls) in
Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas. But there was significant difference in external
motivations of public sports among students in Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas which
the above results are also approved through the results of one-way variance test (ANOVA).
Keywords: motivation for participation, public sports, students, Islamic Azad University of
Bandar Abbas.
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Introduction
International evolutions have made different aspects of contemporary life, Physical Education
and sport necessarily that it seems inevitable to ignore and avoid them. Physical Education as an
educational-training process includes gaining motor skills, development and maintenance of
physical fitness for health, acquisition of scientific knowledge about physical activities, exercise,
development of positive imagination and mentality about physical activities as a means of
improvement in human performance and implementation, which plays an impressive role in
individuals' growth and development. Some purposes have been given to this science. Sport for
everybody is the concept of public sport that consists of age ranges of three to over seventy, it
includes different types of physical activities such as irregular and spontaneous native exercises,
and regular exercises like doing exercises in the mornings, activities and recreations in parks and
campus, walking on the maintains and fitness classes and mostly predicated as non-competitive
and cheap team sports (Javadipour & Saminia, 2014). On the other hand, today lack of body
fitness in cities has been started from children and even it could be observed in old people. It
seems that sport as a strategic solution and public sports as a cheap and pleasurable means can
improve body fitness problems and on the other hand health issues in urban life (Fouladian & et.
al, 2009).
The results of various studies show that Iranians participate for different reasons in sport
activities such as hilarity, pleasure, preventing diseases, vitality, losing weight and health
maintenance (Ramezaninezhad, 2008). Also Colet & et.al (2004) defined physical fitness and
health as the reason to participate for adults' sport activities in Australia. Also Meat & Faltez
(2001), showed that the youth who participate in recreational and competitive sports consider
development of physical fitness skills and competition as their priority. Smith & et.al (2002),
showed that being healthy and keeping appearance features are the two main reasons in
exercising for girl students. The concept of motivation is one of fundamental concepts and
subjects in human resource management (Seyed Ameri & Muhamad Aleq, 2012). Motive, as an
arousal state that forces the organism to act, and causes to stimulate individuals' behaviors, lead
and coordinate their behaviors towards a certain way. Individuals are different in terms of ability
and willing or motivation to do a job. One of different kinds of motive is the motive for sport
which is derived from self-decision theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The dimensions of the theory
are: internal motivation, external motivation and lack of motive. Internal motivation refers to a
kind of behavior that a person expresses to have enjoyment and internal contentment. In external
behaviors , a person do an action in order to receive external rewards , but lack of motive
happens when no dependency is observed between the action a person is going to do and the
external rewards will be received( Shabani Bahar, Erfani & Hekmati, 2012). Today, in Iran's
universities sport activities includes two units of curriculum in Physical Education (first and
second) that is mandatory for students from other disciplines. Also extra-curricular sport
activities in universities consist of three sections: competitive section (competitions in
universities and between universities), educational section (learning sport skills) and public
recreational section (optimizing students' leisure time). Extra-curricular sport activities can be
plotted on a continuum in which public recreational and strong disorganized activities are placed
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in one side and sport activities that need planning and regulations are in other side
which must be directed by professionals, proper equipments and skillful referees. Domestic
researches show that only 29.3 percent of athletic activities in universities are dedicated to public
sports and recreational activities. However, the students requested their needs based on their
priority order such as programs for sport and recreation (4/45 %), training and learning sports
skills (32%) and sport competitions (26.6 %). (Azizi, Farahani and Khabiri, 2012)
Peiffer & Pate (2009) studied the motivational factors related to physical activity in students'
participation. Their results showed that there was no significant relationship between the level of
physical activity and motivational factors for sport participation in girls. But the differences were
significant in boys. On the other hand, motivational factors for sports participation in girls and
boys showed a significant difference. Panagiotis & Zahariadis (2009), mentioned different
results after examining the motivational factors and orienting the public sport purpose among
students, so that there was no significant relationship between the components of making friends,
post and position, energy release (the components of sport participation motives), and
components of the desire for victory. Stuart (2006) studied the relationship between participation
motive of sport in students with factors such as age groups, sex and sport courses, and physical
activity level that their results emphasized the difference in motivation of participating in various
group ages and sport courses. Vicky-Lynn (2010) knows health, vitality and physical fitness as
the main motivation for exercise. According to other researches, sports motivation among
different people are health, physical fitness, beauty, joy and vitality, improving job and life
relationships, social interaction and beauty (Zahedi, 2010). Internal motivation refers to a kind of
behavior that a person expresses to have enjoyment and internal contentment. In external
behaviors , a person do an action in order to receive external rewards , but lack of motive
happens when no dependency is observed between the action a person is going to do and the
external rewards will be received( Shabani Bahar, Erfani & Hekmati, 2012). Also the motivation
for participation has been known as a kind of objective action that in order to achieve certain,
pre-determined and defined purposes it would be reflected in an interactive process between an
actor and social environment (Azizi, Jalali Farahani and Khabiri, 2010).
Researchers have been involved in understanding the goals and motivations to participate in
public sport. Especially abroad scientific findings among students, developing health and public
culture in society and growing public awareness of exercising and its impact on health have led
to observe more public participation in physical activities and sport. In order to grow and
develop many public sports, increasing motivation for participation in sport and considering the
advantages of sport are needed to gain goals of health, economic and social services. So the main
question is that is there any difference in motivation to participate in public sports between girls
and boys in Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas?
Methodology
This study is an applied research based on its purpose, also descriptive and casual-comparative
of type. It is cross-sectional in terms of time criterion. . The population consists of all
undergraduate students in Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas in the first semester of years
93-94 that it equals to 1159 people. A sample of 288 people was calculated on the basis of target
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population number and using Cochran formula that was selected via appropriate stratified
random sampling. Eventually questionnaires distributed among participants
To evaluate athletes' motivation to participate in sport, participation motivation questionnaire by
Gale (2000) would be used, the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions that the subject would be
used by applying Liker Scale ranged from one (very important) to five (no importance) to answer
questions, this questionnaire is formed with five subscales (group atmosphere, entertainment and
recreation, external motivations, arousal or competitiveness, learning skills). Its reliability and
validity were confirmed by Shafizade and et.al (2005). Mostahfezian and Nemat Elahi (2012)
applied Cronbach alpha coefficient to evaluate reliability and it equals to 0/84. Finally in order to
compare the two independent samples (girls and boys student), independent student T-test was
used to analyze data. Data analysis was done by using the SPSS18 software.
Results
Students' descriptive statistics was reported in table 1.
Table1, descriptive statistics of subjects
variable
group
frequency
sex
male
129
female
130
Martial statues
single
211
married
48
habitation
native
193
Non-native
66
percentage
49/6
50/4
81/5
18/5
74/5
25/5
Single-sample Kolomogrov Smirnov test was used to study the normality of motivation for
participation (affiliation motivation, entertainment motivation, and competition motivation and
learning skills). The results showed that assuming the normality of major variable and its
dimension could be approved (P>0/05).
Table 2: The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to study the normality of data distribution
affiliation
Entertainment external
competitive
Learning
& recreation
skills
Kolmogorov- 0/853
0/776
1/042
1/464
1/200
Smirnov Z
Significant
0/46
0/58
0/22
0/98
0/11
level( oneway)
The results , as shown in Table 3 , showed that there is only a significant difference between
male and female students in the external motives rate with mean and standard deviation(p <0.05).
But in the (participation motive, affiliation motive, motivation, entertainment motive,
competitiveness motive, entertainment motive and learning skills motive) rate, there is no
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significant difference between male and female students with average mean and standard
deviation (p> 0.05).
Table 3: Independent t-test statistic about the difference related to various variables among
students
variable
Group numbers average SD
Degree
variance t
Significant
of
level
Freedom
Participation
Male
129
122/74 15/67
0/027
0/76
motive
0/302
Female 130
123/31 14/74
Affiliation
Male
129
23/66
3/96
0/632
0/966 0/33
motive
Female 130
23/12
5/02
Entertainment Male
129
25/57
3/35
0/121
0/24
257
motive
1/171
Female 130
26/05
3/20
External
Male
129
32/60
4/99
0/096
0/03
motives
2/184
Female 130
33/98
5/17
Competitive
Male
129
19/61
3/74
0/0001
0/435 0/66
motive
Female 130
19/41
3/84
Learning skill Male
129
21/29
3/47
0/308
1/288 0/19
motives
Female 130
2075
3/28
Conclusion
The results showed that, in public sports there is no significant difference between (motivations
for participation, affiliation motivation, recreation motivation, competitiveness motivation,
learning entertainment skills motivation) among male and female students in Islamic Azad
University of Bandar Abbas. This finding is contradicted to the results reported by Mozaffari,
Ganjavian and Haji Enzhaei (2014), in which women have greater motivation for participation
than men. But it is consistent with the results reported by Hajibeklou and Soleymani (2014)
showed that there is no difference between male and female students about motivation for
participating in sports. To explain this difference it could be said that according to the Exchange
Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory and Bandera's Theory, environmental and situational
factors continuously are engaged to determine what we think and what we do. In these theories
suggested that external determinants and personal behavior determinants, such as attitudes,
norms, and beliefs affect on individuals' behavior. On the other hand Bandera, in his theory of
social learning, states that the attitudes, motivations and behaviors are influenced by other people
is important and others can have positive effects or constraints on the behavior of individuals'
action, therefore social and family support for students could be effective in order to have
amateur sport and physical activity (Fathy, 2009). Also the Motivation to participate in sports
activities refers to individuals' differences. Because of individuals' differences and diversity of
sports, type of motivation in people to achieve their goals is so important.
Also this finding is contradicted to the results of the research reported by Ramezaninejad & et al
(2009), showed that health and body fitness, pleasure and happiness, improvement in job and life
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relations, social interaction and other reasons are in priority as the motivation to participate in
public sports. Affiliation is an internal motivation to participate in sports and it leads to
excitement, recreation, to be interested in practicing, and a chance to prove their abilities to
improve skills (Imami, Heidarinejad and Shafi-Nia, 2013). But this contradicts in results of this
research and other researches may be caused by factors such as hidden differences of age or
awareness. It is contradicted to the Research by Vicki Lane (2010), who knew the health, vitality
and body as the main motive to exercise. According to other researches, health, body fitness, joy
and vitality, improvement in job and life relations, social interaction and aesthetic are reported as
the motivations to participate in public sports among different people (Fathi, Moharramzadeh
and Farahani, 2009). In general, because physical activities and sports bring physiological
balances and improve the vital functions of the body, it would lead to have health and vigor of
body and mind, on the other hand people who have the physical and mental health, would ensure
survival and prosperity of a society; Given that attitude affects on behavior and it has a cause and
effect relationship with behavior; it is important to study the attitude toward physical activity and
sport as the origin of conscious behavior in order to achieve well-being and health goals. For this
purpose, understanding personal characteristics and awareness of attitudes and tendencies of
individuals for physical activities and sport plays an important role in making decisions about
education, learning and health and can help sport administrators to provide appropriate facilities
according to the people orientations, physical or mental abilities and needs to develop physical
activities and a realistic planning. In recent years the tendency to an attitude in the field of
physical and sport activities makes sport measures (Atar zadeh and Sohrabi, 2007). The results
showed that, there is a significant difference between the external motivations in sport among
male and female students of Islamic Azad University in Bandar Abbas. This finding is consistent
with the research by Emami, Heidarinejad and Shafinia (2013),who believe that the internal
motivations such as health, interaction and social cognition, sport competition, happiness and
skill improvement is effective in students' participation rate, but they did not observe any
difference between girls' and boys' motivation to participate in public sports. This finding is
consistent with the results of the research by Mirsafin, Mohamadinejad (2013), who knew
students' purpose to participate in sport is to have physical fitness, mental health and a healthy
body as a motivation for students, while spending leisure time with friends, and taking part in
competitions were found as the lowest motivational dimensions, furthermore, there were various
motivational differences between students in terms of gender, age, education, and major. Several
studies have shown different motivations (social interaction, pleasure and joy), prevention and
treatment, stress reduction, weight control, job and life relationships, health and external
motivation for physical fitness that can lead to tendency to exercise and sport (Mozaffari,
Ganjavi and Gorji, 2013). It is important to note here that both internal and external sources of
motivation are important to participate in sport activities, but ultimately internal motivation
causes continuation of athletic habits and behaviors and it reaches to its greatest extent when a
person feels competence, and autonomous to its environment, On the other hand, due to
increasing development of recreational public sports in universities from the Ministry of Science
in recent years, because students are at a young age and in this age , society and other people
play a determinant role in their positive perception of themselves it is more important than
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health, sports competition, happiness in the fields of sports, so sports causes body fitness which
is an external motivation.
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