Personal incentives for exercise and body esteem: a canonical correlation analysis.

Two hundred twelve women and 93 men enrolled in physical education courses were administered the Personal Incentives for Exercise Questionnaire and the Body Esteem Scale. Canonical correlation was conducted. For women, it was determined that personal incentives for exercise have modest predictive power for the weight concern and physical conditioning dimensions of body esteem and very little predictive power for the sexual attractiveness dimension; the body esteem variates have slight predictive power for the competition and weight management dimensions of investment in exercise. For men, it was determined that personal incentives for exercise have modest predictive power for the physical conditioning dimension of body esteem, slight predictive power for physical attractiveness, and none for upper body strength; the body esteem variate has modest predictive power for the weight management dimension of incentives for exercise and slight predictive power for appearance and affiliation.