Sport Motivation in Outdoor Sport Activities

Physical activities in nature provide a series of important benefits for the physical, social and mental health, and well-being. Moreover, there is growing evidence regarding the benefits for people from direct contact with the natural environment. Outdoor sport activities are a type of exercise that is not difficult and appeals to all ages. Therefore, there is a growing interest in determining the motives of participants in outdoor sports. The purpose of this study is to explore the motives of participants in outdoor sport activities using self-determination theory. The Greek version of the Sport Motivation Scale (Pelletier et al., J Sport Exerc Psychol 17:35–53, 1995) was administrated to a random sample of 120 adults (64 males and 56 females), members of a naturalist club in the Attica region. The age of respondents ranged from 24 to 68 years old. Results show that the most significant motives are all three “intrinsic motivations” and the “extrinsic motivation of identification”, whereas amotivation scores are not significant. Also, gender analysis shows that females have stronger motives than men whereas a sex motivation multivariate analysis did not show significant results. The present study shows which motives are more important for outdoor sport participants and can provide guidance to all those who organize outdoor sport activities.