Family Status and Motivations to Run: A Qualitative Study of Marathon Runners

Family structure influences motivations to run. Drawing on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 33 amateur marathon runners, we investigated how people in various family situations talked about why they run. We found that while there were no major differences in stated motivations to start running or to run marathons, there were differences among the various family statuses for why people continue to run. We concluded that researchers and those who want to encourage long-term engagement in active leisure should consider family context as an important influence on people's motivations to run.

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