Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction: Only 57.4% of 13-19 year old Hong Kong adolescents engage in three or more days of 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity weekly (Hong Kong Department of Health 2010). This study investigated 1) associations between self-regulated learning (SRL) and moderate and vigorous leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), and 2) whether higher self-regulation scores (using median as cut-off) are associated with higher levels of LTPA. Methods: Adolescents (n = 488; 11 - 19 years; mean age = 14.91; 297 males), from three Hong Kong secondary schools participated. The cross-sectional design used the short Chinese SRL self-report scale, which assessed planning, effort, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, reflection and self-efficacy (Cronbach's α subscales .72 to .89; ICC subscales .69 to 82); and the established Godin leisure-time exercise questionnaire. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) analysis found that a model containing all SRL variables explained a small but significant amount of LTPA (5.4%) in the entire adolescent group. High SRL scores were associated with higher LTPA levels, and a significant HRM model, for the high SRL group, explained 10.4% of vigorous LTPA. In this model reflection emerged as a significant predictor (p < .05). Conclusions: Better self-regulated adolescents reported significantly more LTPA, and appear to reflect more than less self-regulated adolescents, which suggest that they may be more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and able to translate this knowledge into future action. Considering that SRL is amenable to training, future research should focus on teaching SRL strategies, and assessing their impact on adolescent LTPA.