Motivation and level of risk in male and female recreational sport participation

Participants in this study were 1469 male and female students who specified a principal sport or physical activity that they had engaged in during the preceding year. They completed a sport and exercise participation questionnaire which contained a modified version of the Motivational Style Profile (MSP: Apter, Mallows, & Williams, 1998). This was used to determine respondents’ situational state balances. In addition, students responded to two sets of statements concerning (a) their reasons for participation (eight statements) and (b) their metamotivational orientation in life in general (six statements). Both sets of statements were formulated in the framework of reversal theory’s metamotivational states ( Apter, 2001). Respondents were grouped on the basis of the activity they had stated as their main sport or physical activity, as being relatively low in risk (e.g., aerobics, badminton, dance, hiking, tennis), medium in risk (e.g., athletics, fencing, life saving, netball, volleyball), or high in risk of physical injury (e.g., basketball, handball, judo, rugby, soccer). Significant overall differences in state balances were found for males (F(10,1252)=3.414, p=0.0012), but not for females (F(10,1448)=1.18, p=0.23), and in sport specific reasons for participation for both males (F(16,1246)=9.15, p=0.0001), and females (F(16,1470)=2.34, p=0.002). However, both male and female risk groups showed insignificant overall differences in life metamotivational orientations. The results are examined in the light of previous work and some of the implications for theory and practice are discussed.