The Relationship Between Being Bullied and Exercise Motivation

The Relationship Between Being Bullied and Exercise Motivation Erica Anderson Yun Park

Say NO to bullying! http: //www. bing. com/images/search? q=social+bullying&view=detail &id=C 46 BACD 6 FDF 95 AA 10365 BD 72 E 24 C 36 D 7 C 8 FBC 52 A&first=0&F ORM=IDFRIR -Zack W. Van www. bing. com/images/search? q=bu llying&view=detail&id=0090 A 07 DA 49 850 B 5 F 1 A 627898 EBDFA 38820 B 55 D 3 &first=0&qpvt=bullying&FORM=IDFRI R http: //

Defining Terms � Bullying (specifically Peer Victimization) � Exercise Motivation ◦ Physical ◦ Verbal ◦ Social/indirect ◦ Internal - intrinsic, introjected ◦ External - extrinsic, identified ◦ Amotivation

Previous Literature � Survey reports 82% of peer emotional victimization occurred during school contexts (Turner, Finkelhor, Hamby, Shattuck, & Ormrod, 2011). � Victims of bullying are at an increased risk to suffer serious and long-term emotional as well as physical consequences (Steinfeldt, Vaughan, La. Follette, & Steinfeldt, 2012).

Previous Literature (cont’d) � Exercise plays a vital role in weight management and those who are overweight tend to experience peer victimization (being bullied) more frequently (Peterson, Puhl, & Luedicke, 2012). � Those motivated by intrinsic reasons tended to have higher exercise motivation in the future than those who were motivated by extrinsic reasons (Gillison, Sebire, & Standage, 2011).

Research Question � No study up to date has investigated the long term effects of bullying on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation styles. � Is there a relationship between being a victim of bullying and self-determined motivation to exercise?

Hypotheses � Those who experienced bullying in the past will tend to report less motivation to exercise that is self-determined. � This will be influenced by gender: ◦ Females who experienced more victimization in the past will show less overall motivation to exercise when compared to males. ◦ Females will report more extrinsic motivation than males.

Participants � 62 Penn State Behrend undergraduate students (22 males/39 females) � Recruited through Penn State Behrend SONA system (ages 18 and up) � Completion of surveys implied consent to participate (IRB #40941)

Materials � Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire ◦ Were you physically bullied at secondary school? �“hit/punch: ” yes_ or no_? (check one) “stolen from: ” yes_ or no_? ◦ Were you verbally bullied in primary school? �“called names: ” yes _ no _? �“threatened: ” yes _ no _? ◦ Were you indirectly bullied at primary school? �“had lies told about you: ” yes _ no _? �“excluded: ” yes _ no _?

Materials (cont’d) � Exercise Regulations Questionnaire (BREQ-2) ◦ Internal/Intrinsic motivation: “I exercise because it’s fun. ” ◦ Introjected regulation: “I feel guilty when I don’t exercise. ” ◦ External/Extrinsic motivation: “I exercise because other people say I should. ” ◦ Identified regulation: “I value the benefits of exercise. ” ◦ Amotivation: “I don’t see why I should have to exercise. ”

Procedure & Method ◦ Read implied consent form ◦ Completed both surveys – Pen & Paper ◦ Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire �Degree of bully victimization experiences ◦ BREQ-2 �RAI score

Results ◦ Moderate and negative relationship between degree to which exercise motivation is selfdetermined and degree of bully victimization experiences. r(61)=-. 364, p<. 05

Gender: Female r(39)=-. 376, p<. 05 Gender: Male r(22)=-. 359, p<. 05

External vs. Internal Motivation

Discussion � Hypothesis 1: Those who experienced bullying in the past will tend to report less motivation to exercise that is self-determined. Confirmed! � Supports previous research: ◦ Being bullied during adolescence can have long-term physical and emotional effects (Steinfeldt, Vaughan, La. Follette, & Steinfeldt, 2012). ◦ Being bullied can deter individuals from participating in physical activity (Peterson, et al. , 2012).

Discussion (cont’d) � Hypothesis 2/3: Females who experienced more victimization in the past will show less overall motivation to exercise when compared to males. Confirmed! ◦ Also, females will report more extrinsic motivation when compared to males, who will report more intrinsic motivation. No main effect.

Discussion (cont’d) � It’s possible that those who have been bullied have a predisposition for holding poor exercise motivation beliefs. � Being overweight was reported most commonly as a reason why one was bullied. � “Often bullied because of my weight and often saw other people get bullied about their weight as well. "

Discussion (cont’d) � Example Case ◦ "Back in middle school, this kid and his friends called me ‘Jiggly Puff’ as a way to tell me I'm fat. Other names consisted of ‘Cream Puff’, ‘fattie’, and ‘tubby’. ” ◦ Low RAI score (RAI = 2; µRAI = 40. 20).

Limitations � Self-report � Spectrum � Small measures of victimization severity sample size � Females overrepresented

Implications � Future research should further investigate the gender differences ◦ What factors could explain why females (but not males) show a decrease in self-motivated exercise beliefs when experiencing bullying? �More internalization of bullied experiences? �Could this be explained by females internalizing more?

References � � Gillison, F. , Sebire, S. , & Standage, M. (2011). What motivates girls to take up exercise during adolescence? Learning from those who succeed. British Journal of Health Psychology, 17(3), 536 -550. Peterson, J. L. , Puhl, R. M. , & Luedicke, J. (2012). An experimental investigation of physical education teachers’ and coaches’ reactions to weight-based victimization in youth. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13, 177 -185. Steinfeldt, J. A. , Vaughan, E. L. , La. Follette, J. R. , & Steinfeldt, M. C. (2012). Bullying among adolescent football players: Role of masculinity and moral atmosphere. Psychology of Men & Masculinity. 1 -14. Turner, H. A. , Finkelhor, D. , Hamby, S. L. , Shattuck, A. , & Ormrod, R. K. (2011). Specifying type and location of peer victimization in a national sample of children and youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

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