Social Norms Towards Exercise

1758 Words8 Pages

In this study, we conducted a research on the effect of norms towards the attitude on exercise. This study was conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder. The study was conducted as a survey and was given to participants given in the first week of their lab of the course of Research Methods. The survey was an anonymous and not mandatory survey. This study was used to help researchers make conclusions on student populations. In the beginning of this study, we had hypothesized that placing norms on people would change and affect their attitude towards exercise. From the study, we have gathered that having and/or putting norms on students on whether they should or should not do exercise does not affect their attitudes towards exercise. A …show more content…

focused on studying the physical activity of college students. This study found that about 40-50% of students are inactive. From those who are physically active, researchers found that social factors significantly contribute to their motivation to be active. Researchers also found that female students were more motivated by their family members. While males students were more motivated by peers and friends (Xiaofen et al,. 2005). This study shows how social norms are significant to college students to stay physically active.
Another study done on college students and exercise was conducted by Mack et al,. where they studied the overall attitude that students had towards exercise. This study had students take a wellness course right when students started the course they were surveyed on their attitude and students were once again surveyed at the end of the course. Researchers found that students that had taken the course improved their attitudes towards exercise (Mack et al,. 2004). This study showed that student’s attitudes towards exercise can change by having taken a course on …show more content…

This figure shows the participants attitudes correlated with norms. The line shows the correlation of .31, (p-value = 2.351e-06).
Discussion
This study was focused on finding the correlation between norms and attitudes in exercise. The study was done in the form of a survey, which was given to college students in a Research methods course in the University of Colorado Boulder. Most of the students that participated in the study were upperclassmen, with an average age of 20-21 years old. This study showed a correlation.
The correlation test showed that the relationship between the attitudes people have based on norms was not strong (0.3), but the relationship between norms and attitudes was positive. This meaning that we reject the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between the attitudes towards exercise and the norms. My hypothesis for this study had been that there was a negative correlation between a number of norms people have that affects the way that they feel about