Exploring Physical Activity Preferences

Excerpt

We read with interest the article by Beauchamp and colleagues [1] that explored preferences for exercising alone or in age-specific groups among a convenience sample of 947 Leeds, UK adults. (Individuals were approached in the city center by one of six trained research assistants and asked to respond to a series of questions about their “views about exercise” (p. 202). The article describes some interesting results concerning preferences for same-age exercise classes across the different age groups sampled. The authors compare their results with those from some of our work in the physical activity preference area [2]. Some of the interpretations that they have made about our work, however, are at odds with our own interpretations of our data. We believe that these differences merit discussion to reduce confusion in the field. …