Predictability of sport participation motivation from metamotivational dominances and orientations

The hypothesis of a relationship among metamotivational dominances as assessed by dominance scales, life metamotivational orientations (LifeMOs) and more specific metamotivational orientations towards sport and physical activity participation (SportMOs), derived from questionnaire responses, was tested using the framework of Reversal Theory. Regression analyses showed that participation motivation was weakly but reliably predictable from metamotivational dominances in a large sample of Hong Kong school children and youth (N=2346), and that SportMOs were similarly predictable from LifeMOs and dominances in a sample of Hong Kong university entrants (N=3162). These findings are interpreted as supportive of Reversal Theory, which would anticipate low, but statistically significant relationships on the basis that motivation for behavior, in this case sport participation, is believed to be influenced by a complex interaction of situational variables, metamotivational states, metamotivational dominances and metamotivational orientations. The findings provide a better understanding of the relationships between the motivational factors that influence sport participation.