Exercise: 'Guilting' Teens Into Exercising Won't 'Work Out'

Guilt trips never work and that includes trying to get middle-schoolers to exercise when they don't want to.

New finidings published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that sudents who don't feel in control of their exercise choices or who feel pressured by adults to be more active typically won't get more involved in fitness.

"Our results confirm that the beliefs these kids hold are related to physical activity levels," Rod Dishman, the study's lead author and a professor of kinesiology in the UGA College of Education, said in a news release. "But can we put these children in situations where they come to value and enjoy the act of being physically active?"

In this recent study, researchers at the University of South Carolina are hoping to find better ways to help children identify with exercise at a younger age so that by the time they reach middle school, they are more likely to identify as someone who exercises. This could include things like teaching more structured games in elementary school, expanding community recreational leagues to give kids more opportunities to improve in certain sports or integrating physical activities into classroom lessons.

However, the researchers reiterated that parents and teachers shouldn't create a sense of guilt. The research overwhelming found that students who felt obligated to be more active were less likely to embrace activity, overall. 

"The best thing is to do it because it's fun," Dishman said. "It's the kids who say they are intrinsically motivated who are more active than the kids who aren't."

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