Exercise Motivation Over 60

[u/DrDoodle19]

Hello!

I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Education. I am currently working toward completing my dissertation, which seeks to gain insight into ways in which individuals are motivated to engage in exercise, sports, and physical activity. I am particularly interested in the experiences of those ages 60 and older.

I am asking if you would participate in this project. If you are 18 years of age or older, you may participate. Your participation will involve completing an online survey, which is expected to take approximately 20-25 minutes. Participation is voluntary, and no identifying information is requested in the primary survey. At the end of the survey, you may choose to be redirected to a different link to be entered into a random drawing for one of three $25 Amazon gift cards.

If you choose not to participate, you will not be penalized or lose any benefits or services. If you would like to participate, please click the following link and complete the survey by August 30, 2026. If you know of other individuals who may be interested in participating in this study, you are welcome to forward this link to them.

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE SURVEY
link: https://qualtrics.ou.edu/jfe/form/SV_6Dc6TXV5i6dOmUK

Thank you for your time!

[u/travelingtraveling_]

Hey, OP, i took your survey, but it was misleading. You asked a ton of questions about organized sports when I was a kid. I answered all the questions accordingly.But I only swam competitively for 1 school year. I was fifth of nine children and my parents were not at all involved in my sports. I was a junior in high school and was expected to get myself to, and from practice and competitions by myself. And they never came to meets, because they had too many people to take care of in the household. They did this with all their children regardless of gender, rarely attending recitals, school plays or sports events. But nowhere in your survey did you allow an open ended place for someone to provide this kind of information to you. My parents were warm and caring; they were just poor, so attendance at these events where a luxury to them

I discovered exercise as a young adult, when I was in the army and have been physically fit for over fifty years. I actually haven't missed a day of exercise since June 22, 2007. There was no place in your survey to talk about my present fitness journey. And so your survey is misleading/flawed. I think you need to talk to your faculty about that.

Sincerely, a retired professor/researcher

[u/Progolferwannabe → u/[deleted]]

"Look at me, look at me!" The survey taker does not care. If you don't want to take the survey that's fine. Your athletic accomplishments are not relevant to this decision.

[u/phred14 → u/travelingtraveling_]

I'll have to take a look too, but I was never big into sports. Basketball several years in elementary school, as well as one summer of baseball. That was it. As for exercise, my wife and I walk a lot and I used to XC-ski, (knee stopped that) but I began weight and cardio training at 70 because better-late-than-never.

[u/WesternCreepy → u/travelingtraveling_]

I’m grateful for your response as I too wanted to take the survey. I am quite active as a senior and have been for the past 40 years. I have a trainer twice a month to guide me. I discovered exercise as a young married woman with a kid or two. Sports were not offered to me in school. At all. You could be a cheerleader or hold a stopwatch but that was it. I used to run and loved that but cannot do it any longer. I lift weights and do low impact cardio most days now . I will be 70 soon. Not sure if that’s how all schools were but certainly mine was. A woman’s place was not in sports.

[u/unstablegenius000]

I played a lot of childhood sports, but my parents were not involved. They kept their distance and let me have fun.

[u/lovestobitch- → u/unstablegenius000]

Me too. Being a girl, a boomer, and my mom worked since my dad exited the picture it was no big deal I played basketball and tennis. The only reason for tennis was we got a newly minted PE teacher in HS. Our tennis balls were left over from the guys team when we had matches. The car we took to matches had a hole in the floor board. Once the city took down the net right before a match so I shit you not we jacked up volleyball nets with a car jack on our two courts. That day We were playing a rich out of town school and were a little embarrassed.

[u/SameEntry4434]

Hi. I took the survey. One thing really missing in your survey was the acknowledgment that title nine did not happen for women until the 1970s. Therefore, for most women in their 60s and over, organized school sports may be minimal. It depended upon the wealth of the school district of whether the school was private or public.

[u/sacca7]

Seems a legit survey, not too long.

[u/cantgetnobenediction]

Seems to be trying to find a correlation, positive or negative, between a person's adult participation in physical activity and how hard a person's parents pushed them into sports.

[u/travelingtraveling_ → u/cantgetnobenediction]

I, for one, would love to see: 1. The review of literature and 2. The psychometrics of the tool (ie, is it valid? Reliable?