Purpose: Drawing from Self-determination theory, the main aim is to examine if there are different homogenous subgroups of people with similar latent profiles (that differ from other subgroups) regarding goal content in the exercise domain.

Methods: Active members (n=1084) of an internet-based exercise program between 18 and 78 years of age (279 men and 805 women) completed a web survey including the Goal Content for Exercise Questionnaire (GCEQ; Sebire, Standage & Vansteenkiste, 2008). The five variables measured by the GCEQ, social affiliation (SA), health management (HM),skill development (SD), social recognition (SR) and image (IM) were used as input variables in latent profile analysis (LPA) in Mplus. Variables related to Self- determination theory, basic psychological needs and motivational regulations, as well as exercise behavior were used as distal outcome variables.

Results: A five class model constituted the most statistically suitable and theoretically meaningful solution. Class 1 score low on all GCEQ five variables. Class 2 also scores relatively low on all variables aside from HM which was average. Class 3 is primarily driven by high scores on the external goals IM and SR. Class 4 show a reversed profile compared to class 3 with high scores on SA and SD and IM and SR being below average. Finally class 5 display high scores on all variables, in particular on SA, SR and SD. The five classes also differed in terms of distal outcome variables linked to the self-determination theory, such as basic psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulations and exercise behavior.

Conclusions: Several unique latent profiles of goal content in exercise were detected. Significant differences across these latent profiles in basic needs, motivational regulations and exercise behavior were also found. Person-centered analyses, such as LPA, may reveal interesting patterns of complex interactions that are hard to identify using traditional variable centered analyses.