BACKGROUND: We aimed to examine the association of appetitive motives with a non-exercise lifestyle, defined as exercising less than once per year, in a young adult population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We asked university students to answer questions about their exercise habits. We also assessed their appetitive motives, with or without hunger, by using a simple questionnaire in a preliminary survey, and we assessed the hedonic motives to consume palatable foods by using the Power of Food Scale (PFS) in the main experiment.

RESULTS: On multivariate logistic regression analyses in the preliminary survey (n=119) adjusted for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI), appetitive motives under the condition of hunger were positively associated with the non-exercise lifestyle. In the main experiment (n=268), simple regression analyses revealed a positive association between the non-exercise lifestyle and the subscale scores of factor-2 of PFS related to physically present foods. On multiple regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, and BMI, the aggregated scores and the subscale scores of factor-2 of PFS were positively associated with the non-exercise lifestyle.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the intriguing possibility that appetitive motives under the condition “with hunger” and those “with hedonic consumption” can be suppressed even by infrequent exercise.

Keywords: Hunger - physiology, Life Style, Fasting - physiology, Exercise - psychology, Cues, Appetitive Behavior - physiology, Adolescent, Logistic Models, Motivation, Questionnaires, young adult