Based on the previous research, it was hypothesized that there would be an association between age, ethnicity, the number of hours worked and the amounts of exercising. Specifically, it was anticipated that older individuals would exercise less due to physical complications and people working long hours would exercise less due to time constraints and fatigue. In addition, it was anticipated that certain ethnicities such as the African-American population perform less exercise compared to whites. This was because the results from previous studies such as Burton and Turell (2000) backed the hypothesis. According to the study, those who were employed in the so-called “blue collar” occupations were much more likely to be insufficiently active, and that there was a relationship between the number of hours a person works and their time spent being physically active which, due to the negative relationship between often physically-taxing “blue collar” work and exercise, can most likely be described as a similarly negative one. Therefore, it was expected that the individuals that work more hours a week to be less consistent with their exercise routine, and they would be unable to meet their own exercise objectives during the period.
As established by the results, an individual’s ethnicity does not affect the amounts of exercise performed. While customs, attitudes, and ethnic inclinations can determine the physical activities of an individual, the behavioral and cognitive are usually the most common. The only factor that appears to affect different ethnicities is based socio-economic factors. It appears that a majority of the disadvantaged ethnicities exercise less due to constraints like insecurity. However, behavior is a critical factor. For example, to be physically active, individuals could self-monitor target behaviors, learn ways of setting realistic and obtainable objectives and identify and utilize the support from families and peers to assist in achieving the lasting behavioral changes.
The study’s findings are essential for identifying the forms of motives that might encourage individuals to participate in the exercise. It appears that society discourages individuals from exercising through setting standards related to exercise. The results of the research suggest that the external pressures from society may affect an individual’s efforts towards adherence to exercise. For instance, once one is labeled as old, they are not considered as strong enough to take part in exercises (Brech, 2010). Furthermore, the results appear to back the self-determination theory. Specifically, as observed in Brech’s study, when people are primarily motivated by the external influence, they have less possibility of persevering to meet their exercise-related aims. The results offer extra support for past studies that suggested aged individuals are not consistent with exercising.
In addition, the results of the study appear to support Gothe and Kendall’s study, which revealed that the elderly participated in an exercise to increase their confidence level, be alert, and sustain health as ways to pass time. Apparently, the link between exercising and cognitive-perceptual dimension offered the window of signifying the application of Trans-Theoretical Model in the modification of the behavioral changes and endorsing exercise. However, demonstrating the link between the changing beliefs and behaviors and the achievement of increased exercise activities requires an elaborate research design.
Previous research has also been done to investigate the reasons for taking part in the exercise. A study cited by Brech (2010) established that the dominant beliefs of adults regarding moderate exercising were that it leads to a better feeling better or one becomes highly energetic, assists in reducing stress, and enhances the physical conditions. The results for the older Americans established the same beliefs. In relation to the barriers to exercising in the biophysical factors, additional research has established that diseases among the elderly could trigger concerns for healthy living and the adopting an active lifestyle
Similar to a majority of studies, time was recognized as the main barrier to the study. This is because of the manner in which we precisely inquired the participants to include instances of the experiences they have had while trying to adhere to regular exercise patterns. In addition, the lack of prompt response from the online survey affected the study’s results. There is a possibility that the results obtained from this research that is different from past studies may be because of the sample demographics, the measures utilized, or the study’s duration. Hence, future research must be done to try and link the three factors, age, ethnicity, and the number of hours worked to the amount of exercise done through assessing a different group of participants and utilizing a different method of data collection.
