Motivation and Anxiety as Correlate of Exercise Participation among Postgraduate Students of Human Kinetics Department in Southern Cross River State, Nigeria

This research focused on motivation and anxiety as correlate of exercise participation among postgraduate students of Human Kinetics department in public Universities in Southern Cross River State. To achieve the purpose of this work, two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Literature review was carried out based on the variables of the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study; the population of this study was made up of 290 Human Kinetics postgraduate students in Southern Cross River State. Census sampling approach was used in selecting all the 290 postgraduate students used for the study. Questionnaire was developed and used as the instrument to collect data from the sampled subjects for the study. The instrument was validated by experts in Measurement and Evaluation before use. Data collected from the respondents were analyzed and tested at .05 level of significance using simple linear regression statistical tool. The result of the analysis revealed that motivation and anxiety significantly influence exercise participation among postgraduate students of Human Kinetics department in public Universities in Southern Cross River State. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that sport psychologist should continue to encourage postgraduate students to become more motivated to participate in exercise in order to maximize the full benefits associated with exercise participation.

Keywords: Motivation, anxiety, lecturers, exercise participation