Purpose: Cheerleading is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States. Members of spirit squads play an undeniable role in developing a university's athletic image, and participation in cheer has the potential to affect adolescents and young adults in a positive manner. Yet, cheerleaders also encounter stereotypes, constant…

Objective: To identify the influence of parental autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and motivation on emerging adults' physical activity level and exercise behaviours. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: This study convenience-sampled approximately 435 college students identified as emerging adults--aged 18-25 years, who did not have a…

Attribution theorists have argued that if an intrinsically motivated activity is extrinsically reinforced, the activity will be devalued and extinguished when the reward is removed. Hypothesizing that activities performed for their instrumental outcome are valued less than activities not so externally oriented, and that activities performed for…

When the fear of failure was greater than the need for achievement, subjects chose majors with either a low or high probability of success. When need for achievement was the greater of the motives, subjects chose majors with a low or high probability of success when the self was used as the standard of judgment but chose majors with an…

The importance of human needs during the retrospective peacetime in 1990 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991 was examined among 564 college students in the United States. Results of factor analyses showed that during peacetime, two factors (higher-order and lower-order needs) were identified. During the war, all needs were rated as more important and…

A modified iterative factor analytic method was applied to item responses of 346 male students in four community colleges in order to construct three experimental scales for the measure of motivation. A fourth scale, which appears to be a measure of goal-deficiency, was also developed. The four scales--tentatively identified as Intrinsic…