The purpose of this study was to test the causal relationship between body-related shame
and guilt, behavior regulation motivation, and exercise participation in obese children. The
subjects were 956 children (obese: 240, non-obese: 716) who live in Gwangju City and Chonnam
Province. This study used scales that indicated body-related shame and guilt by Rauh,
Hebebrand, & Rief (2007), behavior regulation by Mullan, Markland, & Ingledew (1997), and an
exercise participation scale. The results were as follows:
1. In a comparative analysis of obese and general children, the obese showed higher
body-related shame and guilt, and greater external regulation than those of non-obese children;
but non-obese children showed higher intrinsic regulation than the obese.
2. In an analysis correlation of the variables in the obese, there was a significant relationship
between body-related shame and guilt, introjected regulation, and periods of exercise
participation, and between body-related guilt and external regulation.
3. In an analysis structure equation, a revised model was chosen over the theoretical model
because χ 2 /df was lower than 3.0, and the GFI, NFI, TLI were more than 0.90.
4. The paths of body-related guilt ➔ identified regulation, body-related shame ➔ external
regulation, body-related shame ➔ exercise participation, intrinsic regulation ➔ exercise
participation showed significant causal relationships.