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The diseases that most impact the lives of women may be greatly reduced with adequate exercise and diet. Unfortunately, 66% of women in the United States never engage in periods of vigorous physical activity lasting for 10 minutes induration. Motivation for exercise is a demonstrated determinant of physical activity participation. Achievement Goal Theory offers a viable framework to investigate whether or not the core constructs, task and ego orientation and perceived ability, are able to discriminate amongst exercisers and non-exercisers. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether task and ego orientation and perceived ability discriminated amongst American college-aged females in several stages of exercise engagement in a large sample (N = 611). It was hypothesized that females who were high in perceived ability and task orientation would report being an exerciser, whereas those reporting high ego orientation and low perceived ability would be non- exercisers. The hypothesis addressing task orientation and perceived ability was supported whereas the hypothesis concerning the ego orientation was not supported. Importantly, the results demonstrated that even between exercisers (active for more than 6 months versus less than 6 months), task orientation and perceived ability differed. This finding clearly suggests that the task orientation construct as well as perceived physical ability are important determinants for consistent long-term adherence to physical activity. Practitioners should be able to assist participants in maintaining life-long physical activity participation by promoting a task orientation and higher perceptions of physical ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]