Urban and rural adolescents’ behavioral regulation in exercise according to body weight status

The purpose of this study was to examine urban and rural adolescents’ behavioral regulation in exercise according to their body weight status. The sample size consisted of 513 adolescents (51.5% males, 48.5% females) aged 15-18 (M = 16.49, SD = 1.11) years old and living in urban and rural areas in Turkey. The Turkish version of Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaires-2 was used as a measurement tool for the study. The study demonstrated a significant difference in the sub-domain of amotivation toward exercise between urban and rural groups (p < .05). However, the mean scores of external, intrinsic and introjected sub-domains and the relative autonomy index were not significantly different (p > .05). Our results indicated that urban adolescents were less motivated to do exercise than rural adolescents. Obese adolescents living in rural areas had higher amotivation to exercise than normal weight ones.