Gender and Grade Differences in Knowledge and Behaviors Related to Active Living for Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine differences by gender and grade in middle school students’ physical activity and fitness (PAF) knowledge, physical activity, and sedentary behavior (SB). The study took place at one middle school located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Boys (n = 136) and girls (n = 166) in 6th (n =129), 7th (n = 96) and 8th (n = 77) completed a PE Metrics written test to assess PAF knowledge. They (N = 312) also completed the validated Youth Activity Profile to report physical activity at school (PAS), physical activity at home (PAH), and SB. Two-way (gender by grade) multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA) followed by Bonferroni post-hoc multiple comparison analysis were conducted. Box’s M test of covariance matrices showed no statistical violation (M = 37.78, F = .73, p \u3e .05). The two-way MANOVA showed significant gender (Wilks’s λ = .94, F = 4.40, p \u3c .01, N(2/p) \u3c .06) and grade main effects (Wilks’s λ = .89, F = 4.20, p \u3c .01, N(2/p) \u3c .05). No significant gender by grade interaction effect was detected (p \u3e .05). Subsequent tests of between subjects effect located the significant gender difference in PAS favoring boys (F = 9.3, p \u3c .01, N(2/p) = .03). Boys and girls showed no significant difference on PAF knowledge, PAH, and SB. Significant grade differences were observed for PAS (F = 8.57, p \u3c .01, N(2/p) =.06), PAH (F = 8.18, p \u3c .01, N(2/p) =.05), and SB (F = 4.61, p = .01, N(2/p) \u3e = .03). Sixth grade students showed significantly higher levels of PAS and PAH than 7th and 8th grade students (p \u3c .05 or \u3c .01). Sixth grade students further showed significantly lower SB than 7th grade students (p \u3c .05). This study found boys to be more physically active during school hours than girls, and students in lower grades to be more active than higher grade students. Future school-based interventions should take into account gender and grade-based differences

Culturally Relevant Physical Education for Optimizing Physical Activity Opportunities

Physical education (PE) teachers must adapt educational opportunities to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse students in K-12 schools. Culturally relevant physical education (CRPE) is believed to support all students in achieving success regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, language, or social class. The purposes of this dissertation study are: (a) to explore differences in PE teachers’ cultural pluralistic attitudes across sociodemographic factors; and (b) to test the feasibility (with preliminary impact) of a culturally tailored pedagogical workshop. To address the first purpose, I distributed the adapted Pluralism and Diversity Attitude Assessment (PADAA) to a diverse sample of K-12 PE teachers (n = 88) in a southeastern U.S. state to measure their cultural pluralistic attitudes. To address the second purpose, I employed a mixed-methods design where I implemented a four-session culturally tailored teacher’s workshop with two PE teachers’ (n = 2; Coach Ryan and Coach Cindy) as participants at one convenience school. I also examined their students’ (n = 175) responses to culturally responsive pedagogy and their physical activity (PA) levels. To measure students’ responses and PA levels, I administered the adapted Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching (SMCRT) and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ -C), respectively, pre- and post-workshop. For the qualitative methods, I conducted regular field observations (once per week per class), individual interviews with the teachers (pre- and post-workshop), and collected in-workshop reflective writings from the teachers, to capture changes in CRPE practices. For the first research purpose, I conducted descriptive and inferential statistical analyses to examine the potential differences in teachers’ cultural pluralistic attitudes by sociodemographic variables (e.g., gender, race, age, teaching experience, educational attainment, school level taught, school locale, SES level, and diversity). The results showed no statistically significant differences in teachers’ culturally pluralistic attitudes across sociodemographic groups (p \u3e 0.05) with the exception for the subscale of value cultural pluralism by school level (F1, 86 = 4.31, p = 0.04, ηp2 = 0.05), favoring secondary school level. Overall, the PE teachers generally valued and appreciated cultural diversity, yet they struggled to show cultural responsiveness in their instruction. For the second research purpose, I used descriptive and inferential statistics to quantify changes in students’ responses to the revised PE instruction; and then conducted open-, axial-, and selective coding to analyze the qualitative data to capture the changes with regard to CRPE practices. My qualitative results, upon triangulation, substantiated that the PE teachers’ full participations in the workshop were associated with some favorable changes in their CRPE practices and their intentions to continue culturally tailored professional development, while quantitative results in students’ responses and PA levels did not detect statistically significant pre-to-post changes (ps \u3e 0.05). The findings from this study may inform future research in PE and physical education teacher education (PETE) to foster equitable CRPE for diverse student populations in K-12 schools

Adolescents\u27 Behaviors, Fitness, and Knowledge Related to Active Living before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis

BACKGROUND: Nearly all schools in the United States experienced shutdown followed by phased reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby limiting students\u27 opportunities for physical activity (PA). This study aimed to examine adolescents\u27 PA at school (PAS) and PA out-of-school (PAO), screen-based sedentary behaviors (SbSB), health-related fitness, and knowledge understanding about PA and fitness before and during the pandemic. METHODS: Three rounds of data were collected: Time 1 pre-pandemic (January 2020; = 405), Time 2 schools partially reopened (February 2021; = 412), and Time 3 schools fully reopened (March 2021; = 450). Adolescents completed the Youth Activity Profile, the 20 m Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test and Plank test, and a written test, to measure the behaviors (T1, T2, T3), fitness (T2-T3), and knowledge (T1, T2, T3), respectively. RESULTS: Inferential statistical analyses revealed a significant time effect for the behaviors and fitness. From T1 to T2 PAO decreased but PAS increased; whereas SbSB decreased at T3 compared to T1 and T2. Health-related fitness improved from T2 to T3. Further, the change patterns for SbSB varied by grade, and those for knowledge understanding varied by gender. CONCLUSION: The findings confirm the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents\u27 active living but varied by school grade and gender. The favorable changes from T2 to T3 observed for fitness and other constructs may be partially attributable to an interrupted fitness education intervention. The findings may guide the design and evaluation of future interventions addressing the physical inactivity pandemic during public health crises (e.g., COVID-19)