Motives for Physical Activity Measure – Revised (MPAM-R)

The Motives for Physical Activity Measure – Revised (MPAM-R) is intended to assess the strength of five motives for participating in physical activities such as weight lifting, aerobics, or various team sports five motives are: (1) Fitness, which refers to being physically active out of the desire to be physically healthy and to be strong and energetic; (2) Appearance, which refers to being physically active in order to become more physically attractive, to have defined muscles, to look better, and to achieve or maintain a desired weight; (3) Competence/Challenge, which refers to being physically active because of the desire just to improve at an activity, to meet a challenge, and to acquire new skills; (4) Social, which refers to being physically active in order to be with friends and meet new people; and (5) Enjoyment, which refers to being physically active just because it is fun, makes you happy, and is interesting, stimulating, and enjoyable. The scale has been used to predict various behavioral outcomes, such as attendance, persistence, or maintained participation in some sport or exercise activity, or to predict mental health and well-being. The different motives have been found to be associated with different outcomes.

The scale is a revision of an earlier measure by the same name. The earlier measure was shorter and included only three motives (Frederick & Ryan, 1993). The longer version was later introduced and validated by Ryan, Frederick, Lepes, Rubio, and Sheldon (1997).