Physical activity and self-determined motivation of adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorders in inclusive physical education

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to compare the objectively measured physical activity (PA) and the motivation process between adolescents with (n = 25) and without (n = 75) autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in inclusive physical education (PE); and assess the associations of the PA levels to a sequence of motivational processes. Independent t-tests revealed significant PA and motivational process differences between adolescents with and without ASD. External regulation was positively correlated with the percentage of time that adolescents with ASD spent in moderate PA (r25 = 0.58, p < .01) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (r25 = 0.50, p < .05), and this extrinsic motive was associated with their needs of being attached or related in the class (r25 = 0.53, p < .01). No significant associations of PA in PE on the motivational sequences of adolescents without ASD were observed. It is concluded that adolescents with ASD had less PA levels in PE and lower motives toward PE than adolescents without ASD, and external regulation was important in facilitating PA participation in adolescents with ASD.

Introduction

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social interaction, deviant communication, and restricted and stereotyped patterns of behavior and interest (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). Recent studies further suggest that individuals with ASD may exhibit atypical patterns of movement skills development (Green et al., 2009, Ozonoff et al., 2008, Provost et al., 2007, Staples and Reid, 2010). They typically display low levels of engagement in their world (Keen, 2009) and often lack motivation to engage in physical activity (PA) (Todd, Reid, & Butler-Kisber, 2010). Therefore, studying the relation between PA and motivation measures in ASD is important because adolescents with such a condition are less likely than their typically developing classmates to benefit from school-based exercise and free-time physical activities.

Regular PA plays a critical role for improving and maintaining health and physical fitness (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). Identifying effective strategies for promoting regular PA has lead to reduced sedentary-related diseases among people with (Rimmer & Braddock, 2002) and without disabilities (Strong et al., 2005), thus, it is important for individuals to develop active lifestyle early in life. Current PA guidelines suggest that children should engage in 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) each day (USDHHS and Department of Agriculture, 2005). However, studies have indicated that children with ASD (Pan & Frey, 2006) and without a disability (Strong et al., 2005) do not engage in enough PA in order to enhance the well-being, and the activity recorded did not meet the activity guidelines. Furthermore, Pan and Frey (2006) reported that youths with ASD were less active than previous reports on peers without disabilities (Trost et al., 2002), and a decline in PA with age was also observed.

In light of this, the importance of the school physical education (PE) for developing PA behaviors is now recognized worldwide (Taiwan Ministry of Education, 2004, USDHHS, 2000, World Health Organization, 2004). In order for PE to meaningfully contribute toward the accumulation of daily PA, it has been recommended that PE be provided for all students and lessons be designed for students to be physically active at least 50% of the class time (Taiwan Ministry of Education, 2004, USDHHS, 2000). Nevertheless, evidence suggests that youths with and without ASD do not meet the 50% guideline during PE classes (Chow et al., 2009, Gidlow et al., 2008, Pan, 2008, Rosser-Sandt and Frey, 2005), and adolescents with ASD were less physically active than their peers without disabilities (Pan, Tsai, & Hsieh, in press). Therefore, students’ motivation may be a critical determinant of the success or failure of PE as a means of promoting PA in this population.

Researchers have successfully used self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 1985) as a framework for studying motivation in adolescents during PE (Cox et al., 2008, Gao et al., 2008, Kozub, 2006, Lonsdale et al., 2009, Ntoumanis, 2001). This theory suggests a sequence of motivational processes (psychological needs  types of motivation  consequences) to understand students’ motivation in PE. More specifically, all individuals have three psychological needs: competence (e.g., feeling of efficacious to the activity), autonomy (e.g., having choices), and relatedness (e.g., socially attached or related), which in turn determine their motivation leads to consequences. Motivation can be broadly categorized on a continuum from less to more self-determined (amotivation, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation). Amotivation refers to a lack of an intention for pursuing an activity. Extrinsic motivation is evident when individuals are engaging in activities for obtaining rewards, avoiding negative consequences, or achieving competence. Intrinsic motivation refers to performing something inherently interesting or enjoyable. Three different types of regulation within extrinsic motivation for adolescents have been described by Ntoumanis (2001) in an ascending order of continuum: external (participate to attain external incentives such as rewards or punishment), introjected (participate to gain social recognition or avoid internal pressures and feelings of guilt), and identified regulation (participate to obtain benefits they deem important such as friendship, good health). A combined score on the range of the SDT motivational continuum is often referred to as a self-determination index (SDI) (Lemyre, Treasure, & Roberts, 2006), and this index relies on a hypothesis that a high level of self-determined form of motivation is linked to a low level of non-self-determined form of motivation.

Sport and PE research has shown that greater perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness link to more self-determined motivation (Standage et al., 2003, Standage et al., 2006), and more self-determined motivation is related to greater effort and enjoyment in PE (Ntoumanis, 2001, Ntoumanis, 2002), intention to participate in future PA (Ntoumanis, 2001, Ntoumanis, 2002, Shen et al., 2007, Standage et al., 2003), and greater PA behavior (Gao et al., 2008, Hagger et al., 2003, Lonsdale et al., 2009). Implications of this focus suggest that PA of adolescents with ASD may be enhanced and continued through the use of SDT factor structure. Up until now, there are relatively few studies that have examined the relationship between PA and motivation during PE in youths with disabilities, and none was for adolescents with ASD.

To aid the development of effective interventions, there is a pressing need to examine if self-determined motivation is related to PA in PE of adolescents with and without ASD. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to (a) examine differences in the PA levels and the sequence of motivational processes (psychological mediators  types of motivation  consequences) between adolescents with and without ASD in PE, (b) whether associations existed between the PA levels and the patterns of motivational processes in adolescents with and without ASD, and (c) where the interrelationships occurred in the patterns of motivational sequences within each group.

Section snippets

Participants and settings

The participants were 25 males with ASD (M age = 14.26 ± 0.89 year, M height = 167.38 ± 7.20 cm, M weight = 56.42 ± 12.22 kg, M body mass index (BMI) = 20.08 ± 3.79 kg/m2) and 75 males without disabilities (M age = 14.08 ± 0.80 year, M height = 166.47 ± 7.45 cm, M weight = 59.63 ± 13.63 kg, M BMI = 21.42 ± 4.31 kg/m2) from grades 7, 8, and 9. All participants came from mainstream classes at 15 regular schools in a large urban city in Taiwan, and volunteered to participate and returned signed parental informed consent prior to study

Results

Mean actual (and observed) lesson length was 40.58 ± 2.51 and 40.57 ± 2.81 min for adolescents with and without ASD, respectively. The actual length did not differ significantly for both groups (t98 = .02, p = .98).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine in PE the patterns of motivational sequences and the levels of PA in adolescents with and without ASD. As expected, adolescents with ASD had less PA levels in PE and lower self-determined motivation toward PE than adolescents without ASD. A significantly positive association between external regulation and percentage of time engaging in MPA and MVPA were found in adolescents with ASD, and that external regulation was connected with the psychological need

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NSC 99-2410-H-017-036-MY2. The authors wish to thank all adolescent who participated in this study, parents of adolescents for their supports, and research assistants who helped with data collection and other contributions.

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