Associations Between Intrinsic Motivation, Exercise Attitudes, Physical Activity, and Mental Health in Young Adolescents: An Integrated Motivational Perspective.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) and mental health (MH) are priorities for health promotion during early adolescence. This study explored associations between intrinsic motivation for PA, exercise attitudes, PA and MH in young adolescents. Methods: Participants were 315 students (M_age = 11.41; SD = 2.09; 45.1% girls) conveniently sampled from two private British schools in Dubai. Data were collected via a survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: As hypothesized, higher intrinsic motivation was directly associated with more favorable exercise attitudes, and attitudes was directly associated with increased PA. Unexpectedly, however, PA was not associated with better MH outcomes. A better fitting model was specified in which attitudes was directly associated with both PA and MH. Conclusions: Further research examining associations between exercise attitudes, PA, and MH in young adolescents is warranted.