3.1. Quantitative Results
A total of 140 people responded to the survey with 121 meeting the inclusion criteria. Nineteen were excluded: (a) three for criteria exclusion (one under criterion age and two men); (b) nine for duplicate submission, and seven for incompletion). Two of the incomplete survey participants were contacted and encouraged to complete their surveys as they had, at least, completed the demographic portion of the survey.
Table 2 displays the survey participant characteristics. Among 118 participants who provided their age, most were younger (76.9%). BMI calculations from self-reported height and weight data, indicated most of the triathletes were either normal or overweight (61.2%). The data from the one participant who was calculated to be underweight were collapsed into the normal weight category. More than 90% of participants had completed a triathlon in the past 3 years, and the 8.3% of participants who had not yet completed a triathlon expected to complete a triathlon by the end of 2015. The Sprint distance triathlon category was the most completed triathlon distance among participants (48.8%).
The descriptive statistics of the seven scales which included 43 (of the 56) survey items show the possible minimum and maximum numbers indicate that health orientation, personal goal achievement, and recognition had large ranges. Psychological coping and self-esteem, with higher min and max scores, also had large ranges. When compared to the other scales, weight control and competition had low ranges; both scales only had four values. While the range of these scales varied widely, participants were more closely aligned with health orientation, personal goal achievement, and recognition. The statistics are presented in
Appendix A.
Means and standard deviations were calculated for the motivational statements and presented in
Table 3. The highest rated extrinsic motivational statements were ‘compete [with] self’ (M = 6.1, SD = 1.1) within Personal Goal Achievement and ‘[to be] more fit,’ within Health Orientation (M = 6.1, SD = 1.2). The lowest rated extrinsic motivational statements were ‘beat new person’ was (M = 2.0, SD = 1.5) for the scale Competition and ‘compliments from others’ (M = 2.2, SD = 1.5) for Recognition.
The descriptive statistics of the extrinsic regulation variables (aggregated by responses to the extrinsic scales) and categories of age, BMI, and distance indicated integration regulation was the highest, and external regulation was the lowest, in all categories. Older participants (50+) reported more integration regulation than the younger participants did, those with normal BMI strata reported less integration regulation compared to the participants who were obese (which was only slightly more than those who were overweight), and the triathletes who participated in Ironman distances displayed more integration regulation than that of the triathletes preferring the three shorter triathlon distances. The table is presented in
Appendix B.
Results of MANOVA indicated a significant difference between the two age categories (Wilks’Λ = 0.068, p > 0.05). The mean for the younger women (36–49 years old) was higher than for the older women (50+ years old). Next, two-way MANOVA analysis indicated the dependent regulator variables External, Introjection, Integration and Intrinsic, (which is not reported here) were only correlated with age and distance (Wilks’Λ = 0.01, p > 0.05). The age and distance model of predicted means with confidence intervals, ndicated that the integration, was the regulator of motivation for this population.
3.2. Qualitative Results
Interview results are based on a purposive sample (
N = 12) of participants’ perceptions and interpretations as triathletes and as Black women. Eligibility for an interview was contingent on completing the demographics and MOMS-T survey. Of the 121 survey participants, 118 (97%) were eligible. Eleven face-to-face interviews were conducted in the U.S. states of North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and Massachusetts. These states represented the Mideast, Southeast, North Central, and Northeast USA Triathlon regions. One telephone interview was conducted with a participant from California, of the West region. Presented in
Appendix C are the characteristics of the interview participants (using pseudonyms), including six participants in each age group (36–49; 50+), four Sprint, two Olympic, three Half-Ironman, and three Ironman finishers; and four of the participants had a normal BMI, five were overweight, and three were obese.
There were 508 quotations related to extrinsic motivation. These quotations were coded and were separated among the original seven extrinsic scales. As set in the proposal, the researcher identified categories that were adequately saturated, reflecting more that 70% quotations. The scales within the MOMS are not as easily defined into a regulated style simply based on the scale itself. Rather, the themes within the styles are what mitigate whether a scale is external, introjection, integration, or identification.
There were 16 total themes gleaned from the qualitative data. Eleven themes, including weight maintenance, physical attraction, competition, medals, confidence, fear, competition, coping mechanism, finishing course, improvement, accomplishment, and physical awareness were directly related to the extrinsic MOMS-T scales and regulators. The theme—depression—is also included as the saturation was close at 69%. Transition and inspiration were themes related to the not-previously included regulator, identification, and to the new proposed MOMS-T scale, Triathlete Lifestyle. Two themes, encouragement and family, are not presented in this manuscript because of their dual relationship with the intrinsic scale, Affiliation.
Figure 1 represents the total of seven scales, four extrinsic regulators, and 14 themes from the qualitative data. This section presents an analysis of the interviews and is based on the generalization of what the researcher understood about participants’ personal values and beliefs. The researcher examined whether the participant’s views about the MOMS-T motivations were supported by the intended regulators.
External regulated. The SDT scales, weight control and competition, were initially thought to be external regulated. Signified by the themes, weight maintenance and physical attractiveness, women were either ordered by physicians or encouraged themselves to lose weight due to medical issues. The desired effect of weight loss was to have a more defined ‘lean’ look of one who is athletic. Being lean was perceived to be more physically attractive and was evaluated based on mirror appearance or achieving the status of a ‘triathlete’ (one who completed a triathlon).
Rado explained that being physically attractive is “[being] as fit as you’re genetically able to be.” Competition, however, presented factors of being external and integration regulated. This depended on the context of the competition. The external regulation of competition occurred when a triathlete made the conscious choice to rival against teammates or other triathletes in a race. The women who had strategies for overcoming another triathlete enjoyed and often giggled at their thoughts of how they would view the other triathletes during a race. For Brooklyn Diva, it was a production where she was the hero going after the villain, entitled ‘Superhero’. “I go into a different mindset like I’m in a movie. I’m following this person. I gotta keep up and I’m just thinking the entire time, ‘You gotta catch them,’ and I just play a movie in my head.” Competition also contained an element of integration of setting a goal and essentially creating a personal and internal competition. Nita believed that, “The only person that I’m competitive against, is myself.”
Introjection regulated. The researcher postulated the SDT scales recognition and self-esteem to be regulated through introjection. Most participants stated they were not concerned about what others thought of their participation in triathlons and did not participate for approval. All but one participant said recognition did not directly motivate them; yet, they all appreciated receiving recognition in the form of encouragement, compliments, respect, or motivation for other women to participate. Achieving different feats within the sport is cause for celebration but the level of celebration is not defined by the distance of the race. For example, the new sprinter who completed her first triathlon spoke of how much recognition she received just like the three-time Ironman finisher did. Their eyes lit up with such pride and a smile cut across their faces, as though they could recall every encouraging word they received during training.
Medals (i.e., bling) were a form of recognition that were regulated as introjection. The medals serve as ‘proof’ that the triathletes had completed a course and were most often displayed by the participants. They also serve as a reminder of the participants’ past experiences and accomplishment. In this way, medals are also be described as external regulated because some triathletes would not participate in certain races if they knew they would not receive, at least, a finisher’s medal. Hanna, explicitly said, “I do it for the bling—but that’s about it.”
The MOMS-T scale, self-esteem, was marked by two themes, confidence and fear. Confidence can change over time and is built based on experience. The women who had not been racing as long expressed that participating increased their confidence. The older women expressed that they overcame self-esteem issues years earlier so now self-esteem is, “like the cherry… it’s like that added little benefit,” said Melle.
Fear, a theme which described a mental to physical paralysis, could occur while training or during a race if it was not overcome. While there was some type of fear in all three disciplines, fear of swimming was discussed the most. There were levels of fear of the swimming including: (1) fearing the pool; (2) fearing the deep end of the pool; (3) fearing the fresh open water; (4) fearing the animals (i.e., fish) that might be in the fresh open water; (5) fearing the saltwater; (6) fearing the bigger animals that might be in the saltwater (e.g., alligators). The two fears in the cycling portion of triathlon were falling off the bike or getting hit by a vehicle while riding. The fear of getting hit by a vehicle was synonymous with running too, as well as not being fast enough to get away from a dog chase. The location of the dog did not matter either because dogs live everywhere—in the city and the country. Recognition and self-esteem were not one-dimensional regulated scales due to the differences in the how the themes were regulated.
Integration regulated. The researcher speculated integration to regulate the SDT scales of personal goal achievement, health orientation, and psychological coping. Every one of the participants found personal goals important as there was a sense of pride with setting goals and achieving them. The themes related to personal goal achievement had equal weight. It was motivating to finish the course, no matter the obstacles. Additionally, it was equally important to improve in either one’s personal time in one or all the disciplines, or in one’s finish time. Draya expressed, “What’s … important is to… see if I can beat the time I had before on that same course.” There is a difference between the personal goal achievement themes of finishing the course and accomplishment. Accomplishment occurred after completing the race and the feeling was reported to carry into other parts of life. Finishing the course simply meant they crossed the finish line; however, crossing the line did not have the overflow into other parts of life.
The theme of physical awareness represented the scale, health orientation. The process of awareness was personal and for an athlete’s health to be integrated, a synthesis of meaningful aspects related to triathlon occurred. Experiences made the older triathletes realize how necessary having good health is. Awareness was described as being integrated into their motive for training; once training started, they could experience the effects physically, spiritually, socially and psychologically.
Psychological coping was also regulated through integration as triathlons were described as a coping mechanism to get through life by the majority of the participants. They reported using the physical aspect (i.e., health orientation) to cope with anger and the stressors of life. One of the three disciplines was a favorite or the ‘go-to’ form of exercise for the women. Eve stated, “Whenever I’m upset or angry, I take it out on the pavement.” In addition, Marissa jokingly expressed that, “This world is a safer place because I’m doing triathlons. I just need to tell you that right now, there are people who are walking around alive today because I’m doing triathlons.” Similar to what was experienced with fear, the theme depression was either a barrier or served as a motivator to complete goals. However, depression was more integrated because it directly regulated behavior (rather than being an external regulator like fear). Several of the women used triathlon to free themselves from negative behavior caused by their diagnosis of depression. Elle was the first to explain, “I do have depression but [when] taking medication… I just didn’t like the side effects… so, I just did my research. Exercising was the thing that made me feel good.”
Identified regulated. Identified is the final form of extrinsic regulators which the researcher had not previously thought to be a regulator among the SDT scales. Two themes, inspiration (under recognition) and transitions were analyzed to be identified regulators attached to a new proposed scale Triathlon lifestyle. The women spoke of how they were inspired to be triathletes and then recognized their own ability to be an inspiration. However, in order to maintain the ability to inspire others, the participants adopted a sense of accountability. Nora stated, “I just want to be an example to others, in terms of being in good physical shape and looking the part.” While they experienced their autonomy of continuing to practice the sport, it became a practice that engaged more women to participate, thus benefitting others as well.
The theme, transition, was the self-identification of owning the title ‘triathlete.’ This was not as easily adopted by some of the women because of the more socially accepted and described views of what a triathlete should look like. However, as the women furthered their pursuit of adopting the lifestyle of a triathlete, they also came to identify themselves as a triathlete—regardless of their personal looks.
Triathlon lifestyle. The new theme of triathlon lifestyle emerged from the interviews. It is described as a ‘motivation that is or is perceived to be sustainable over time, as opposed to motivation that is temporal’. The lifestyle, itself, is a journey one takes when they begin the sport, continues through participation in the sport and looks forward toward aspirations for the sport in later life.
When beginning the sport, there are those who do are ‘one and done’. This is a person who has likely checked off ‘triathlon’ from their bucket list. However, a person who ‘catches the bug’ has the potential to become a junkie who is addicted to the lifestyle. The lifestyle triathlete, however, recognizes that after they have spent weeks or months to prepare for a race, they must continue to live this lifestyle because completing one race is not enough. To continue to be successful, the triathlete’s preparation becomes a lifestyle. Some of the women of this study thought triathlon would be a onetime event in their lives, too, but they felt differently after their first experience. For Letti, the transition to recognizing her lifestyle change occurred when she came to respect what triathlon did for her beyond the physical. “When I first started…I did not really appreciate – did not recognize the healing of stress, of problem solving. It does so much for you. But, at the beginning? I didn’t recognize that.” The usage of the words being ‘hooked’ or ‘junkie’ and ‘crazy’ became descriptor words the women heard from others and proudly adopted for themselves. Lexi recognized that making triathlon a lifestyle and being part of the triathlon family is fine because it was, “…encouraging that I’m not [the only] crazy person. Here’s a group of people that have a similar goal and so it’s been encouraging me to continue and work on that. When everybody is crazy, nobody is.”