What triggers changes in adolescents’ physical activity?Analysis of critical incidents during childhood and youth in student writings

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To better understand life course transitions in physical activity (PA), we should identify crucial events that may play a key role as triggers for change. The aim of this study was to understand dynamic PA change by identifying triggers that adolescents themselves relate to their PA changes. A qualitative, inductive approach was used to analyse writings. Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used to analyse 115 specimens of 15–24-year-old students’ writings. We identified seven critical incident categories: promoting one’s own well-being, becoming aware of body-image ideals, finding an inspiring sport or losing sport motivation, encountering health problems, experiencing transitions in life circumstances, receiving support or lacking support from significant others, and becoming an adult. The adolescents’ stories depicted the first three associated with agentic PA increase. CIT holds promise as a useful analytical method for understanding impactful events leading to changes in lifestyle PA during the life course from the participants’ own perspective.