IV. Results
4.2 Perceived Barriers to Exercise
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Chart 2: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘Exercise strengthens my friendship with others’ (non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese)
4.2 Perceived Barriers to Exercise
Table 8 describes the means and standard deviations of the perceived barriers to exercise among all participants of the questionnaire. The reported internal consistency (alpha) for the barriers scale was 0.8. Overall both groups had low to moderate perceptions of the barriers to exercise. ‘Bad weather prevents me from exercising’ was perceived as the highest barrier to exercise among the combined sample groups with a mean of 3.51. ‘Exercise is not fun’ was perceived to be the lowest barrier amongst both groups with a mean of 1.74. The combined mean score of overall barriers to exercise was 2.5 with a standard deviation of 0.63.
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Exercise strengthens my friendships with others.
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Table 8: Overall Perceived Barriers to Exercise
Overall Perceived Barriers to Exercise (Means and Standard Deviations)
Mean Standard Deviation
Bad weather prevents me from exercising. 3.51 1.19
Exercise tires me 3.22 1.16
Lack of motivation prevents me from exercising. 3.19 1.29 Due to my school work, I don’t have time for exercise 3.02 1.32 Injury or health related problems prevent me from exercising. 2.97 1.34
Due to my job, I don’t have time for exercise 2.68 1.37
Exercise I am interested in is too time consuming. 2.37 1.12
There aren’t many places for me to exercise. 2.30 1.20
I feel self-conscious when I exercise. 2.28 1.32
Exercise I'm interested in is too expensive. 2.17 1.19
Due to social and family responsibilities, I don’t have time for exercise. 2.11 1.14
My friends don’t encourage me to exercise. 1.87 1.07
My family members don’t encourage me to exercise 1.83 1.02
Exercise is not fun 1.74 0.98
All Barriers to Exercise 2.5 0.63
Table 9 shows the means and standard deviations of the perceived barriers to exercise between the non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese respondents. Barriers to exercise are not highly perceived by either group. The highest perceived barrier among non-Taiwanese adults was
‘Exercise tires me’ with a mean of 3.43. For Taiwanese adults ‘Bad weather prevents me from exercising’ was the highest perceived barrier with a mean score of 3.74. The lowest perceived barrier to exercise among non-Taiwanese adults was ‘Exercise is not fun’ with a mean score of 1.8, while the lowest perceived barrier among Taiwanese adults was ‘My friends don’t encourage me to exercise’ with a mean score of 1.31. Overall Taiwanese adults mean score for perceptions of barriers to exercise were 2.35 with a standard deviation of 0.57, while non-Taiwanese adults were 2.63 with a standard deviation of 0.67. A two-sample t-test (t = 3.32, p
= 0.001) and Wilcoxon rank-sum test (z = 2.94 and p = 0.03) measuring for differences in
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means between the two groups overall perceptions of barriers to exercise, highlight the significant difference between the non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese sample. Although the Taiwanese group self-reported to exercise less than their non-Taiwanese counterparts, Taiwanese perceptions of barriers to exercise were significantly lower than those of non-Taiwanese adults.
Table 9: Non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese Perceived Barriers to Exercise
Perceived Barriers to Exercise
Not Taiwanese Taiwanese
Variables Mean Standard Deviation Mean Standard Deviation
Tiring 3.43 1.14 2.99 1.16
Low Motivation 3.37 1.26 2.98 1.30
Bad Weather 3.30 1.14 3.74 1.20
School Work 3.23 1.21 2.83 1.41
Self-Conscious 2.83 1.42 1.66 0.86
Injury or Health Related Problems 2.78 1.38 3.18 1.27
Job 2.76 1.42 2.57 1.29
Time Constraints 2.44 1.22 2.30 0.99
Lack of Peer Encouragement 2.37 1.15 1.31 0.63
Social and Family Responsibilities 2.23 1.25 1.98 0.98
Few Facilities 2.22 1.20 2.39 1.20
Expensive 2.21 1.29 2.11 1.07
Lack of Family Encouragement 2.18 1.11 1.45 0.76
Unenjoyable 1.80 1.06 1.69 0.88
All Barriers to Exercise 2.63 0.67 2.35 0.57
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Table 10: Two Sample T-Test for All Perceived Barriers to Exercise
All Perceived Barriers to Exercise
Group Observations Mean Standard Error
Two-sample t-tests and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests on individual perceived barrier items between non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese groups found that there were several perceived barriers that were significantly different between the two samples.
Taiwanese participants perceived the barrier ‘Bad weather prevents me from exercising’
to a higher degree than their non-Taiwanese participants with a t-value of -2.84 (p = 0.005) and z-score of -3.05 (p = 0.002). 33% of Taiwanese adults strongly agreed that bad weather prevented them from exercising while only 15% of non-Taiwanese adults felt the same way.
The largest barrier to exercise among non-Taiwanese ‘Exercise tires me’ was perceived as significantly higher than the Taiwanese group with a t-value of 2.87 (p = 0.004) and z-score of 2.74 (p = 0.006). 21% of non-Taiwanese adults strongly agreed that they found exercise to be tiring compared to 11% for Taiwanese adults.
The second largest barrier to exercise among non-Taiwanese ‘lack of motivation prevents me from exercising was perceived as significantly higher than the Taiwanese group with a t-value of 2.28 (p = 0.02) and z-score of 2.34 (p = 0.02). On the Likert scale, 53% of
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non-Taiwanese adults agreed (answering 4 or 5) that lack of motivation prevented them for exercising. Only 31% of Taiwanese agreed (answering 4 or 5) with this statement.
Non-Taiwanese participants perceived the barrier ‘Injury or health related problems prevent me from exercising’ at a much lower rate than Taiwanese with a t-value of -2.25 (p = 0.03) and z-score of -2.16 (p = 0.03). 25% of non-Taiwanese adults strongly disagreed that injury or health related problems prevented them from exercise while only 13% of Taiwanese adults strongly disagreed.
Taiwanese adults report to feel far less self-conscious than non-Taiwanese adults. 52%
of Taiwanese adults strongly disagreed to feeling self-conscious when they exercise in comparison to 22% of non-Taiwanese adults. The t-value between the two groups was t = 7.35 (p = 0.000), from the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, z = 6.42 (p = 0.000).
Taiwanese were much more likely to disagree with the statement ‘My friends don’t encourage me to exercise’. 75% of Taiwanese adults strongly disagreed with this statement in comparison to 22% of non-Taiwanese adults. The t-value between the two groups was t = 8.42 (p = 0.000), from the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, z = 7.77 (p = 0.000).
Similarly, Taiwanese were much more likely to disagree with the statement ‘My family members don’t encourage me to exercise’. 69% of Taiwanese adults strongly disagreed with this statement in comparison to 34% of non-Taiwanese adults. The t-value between the two groups was t = 5.68 (p = 0.000), from the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, z = 5.49 (p = 0.000).
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Chart 3: Histogram and Distribution curve for All Barriers to Exercise
Chart 4: Histogram and Distribution Curves of Non-Taiwanese and Taiwanese Perceived Barriers to Exercise
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All Barriers to Exercise
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Density
All Barriers to Exercise
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Chart 5: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘Bad weather prevents me from exercising’
Chart 6: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘Exercise tires me’
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Density
Bad weather prevents me from exercising.
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Not Taiwanese Taiwanese
Density
Exercise tires me.
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Chart 8: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘Lack of Motivation prevents me from exercising’
Chart 7: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘Injury or health related problems prevent me from exercising’
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Density
Lack of motivation prevents me from exercising.
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Density
Injury or health related problems prevent me from exercising.
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Chart 9: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘I feel self-conscious when I exercise’
Chart 10: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘My friends don’t encourage me to exercise’
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Density
I feel self-conscious when I exercise.
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Density
My friends don’t encourage me to exercise.
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Chart 11: Histogram and Distribution Curve for ‘My family members don’t encourage me to exercise’
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Not Taiwanese Taiwanese
Density
My family members don’t encourage me to exercise.