Unfortunatly the better way is to look for local resarchers. Since the reasons can change acoording to the cuture around. So, it would depend of how you want to apply it.

 Hi Reeta

Ahh the perennial question which we all struggle with. There are numerous constraints on physical activity and I have to agree with the comments above for much of this. We know that education only works to a small degree so what encourages physical activity and what discourages it? In brief there are three types of constraints (used here as both positive and negative – enhancing and discouraging)  Individual, Task oriented and environmental factors. Individual constraints could be physical (e.g. biomechanical or size), psychological (e.g. anxiety or embarrassment, enjoyment ...), spiritual, and so forth. Environmental could be social (e.g. culture, not having social support, gender expectations ..) and physical environment (e.g. living in the middle of Bangalore or being chased by dogs?? Or the presence of nature in your immediate surroundings) and task could be related to the type of physical activity (e.g. running vs walking or whether it is a specific session or just your journey in and out of work). I have done some research in this area so I hope that helps .. but feel free to quizz

Eric

That is indeed a question that many have tried to address. The best thing you can do (I believe) is to run a good search on predictors of physical activity. I am sure there are papers out there. I have attached one for older adults...highly cited and well received paper. You might want to run a strategy where you look at specific population as well (kids, adults, disabled)...it is complex for sure..

Hello Venugopal,

Please refer the following link.

http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%2812%2900503-7

I hope, it helps.

Good Luck

hi 

yes it is important to find out motivating factors for physical activity, identifying psychological and behavioural inhibitors would contribute a solution to your problem.

Dear Reeta,

I think the best way to address this issue in a first step is a tested and well elaborated theory which will provide you with some ideas about predictors of physical activity and how physical activity can be modeled. There are numerous models and theories, such as the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) or the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) - to name some of the most prominent. Many of these models and theories have been tested in different cultures, however, there are still many cultures left to test the potential applicability. Besides considering motivational constructs, it is usually also important to consider volitional constructs which usually mediate the intention-behavior relationship and help to cross the so called intention-behavior-gap. Eric named a lot of factors which could be considered as potential predictors or moderators for the suggested relationships in such models and theories.

I hope this will help you with your future research!

Kind regards

Julian

I suggest you to read an interesting study based on the data obtained from the European Commission’s Special Eurobarometer. This article is open access.

Researchers ranged 15 reasons why people in the 27 EU countries engage in physical activity. A graphical output was obtained using classical Principal Component Analysis techniques in order to analyse types of motivation and Cluster Analysis method was used to define the interrelationship between the data in the 27 countries. 

Kind regards

Ginés

http://www.springerplus.com/content/2/1/488