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Attitude Toward Physical Education of

Urban High School Students

Howard Z. Zeng1 Raymond W. Leung1, Michael Hipscher1

Wenhao Liu2 and Phil Sylvester3

1Brooklyn College, CUNY, NY. 2Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA.3Public H.S. 440, Bayard Rustin Educational

Complex, New York, NY.

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Introduction and Background -1

Since 1990, there has been an increase in the body of knowledge in students’ attitudes toward physical education/activity (ATPEA). The increased interest in this topic may be attributed by the influence of attitudes toward further participation in physical activities after school (Ennis, 1996; Papaioannou, 1994; Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000; 2007; Tannehill, & Zakrajsek, 1993) and out of school that related to students’ achievement in athletic activities (Graham, 1995; Lee, 1997; Silverman, 1993; Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000; 2007).

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Researchers reported that enjoyment in physical education and activities appear to associate with school children (Stucky-Ropp & DiLorenzo, 1993).

Students who hate physical education/activity (PEA) classes, may select to avoid further participation in physical activities in their daily life (Carlson, 1995; Portman, 1995).

Researchers, however, found that students tend to participate in physical activities continually when they feel have fun and enjoy its (Silverman and Subramaniam, 1999).

Introduction and Background -2

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Introduction and Background -3

Gender differences in ATPEA were reported in the research for this topic, for example:

Greenwood and Stillwell (2001) reported that boys demonstrated strong interests in archery, bowling, flag football, and wrestling, whereas girls preferred gymnastics, softball, and volleyball.

Boys were reported to have more positive attitudes than girls toward physical activities bringing them risk-taking experiences and reducing stress, whereas girls were more positive than boys in physical activities with beautiful and graceful movements (Colley, Comber, & Hargreaves, 1994; Hicks, Wiggins, Crist, & Moode, 2001; Parkhurst, 2000).

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Introduction and Background -4 Subramanian and

Silverman (2002), however, did not find gender difference in attitudes toward physical education and activities between boys and girls although they were found to possess moderate positive attitudes.

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Introduction and Background -5 Concerning the studies that dealt with

children’s physical activity levels, researchers have addressed that children’s attitudes toward physical activity was relatively scant, and most research targeted elementary school children (Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000; 2007).

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Introduction and Background -6 Researcher indicated that children at

elementary schools tend to report inflated physical activity abilities, interests, and attitudes due to their limited developmental ability of self-evaluation (Subramaniam & Silverman, 2000; 2007).

Secondary school children’s self-reports, however, would be more realistic (Lee, 2004). Thus, it would be important to examine high school students’ ATPEA.

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Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude toward physical education (ATPE) and sports/activities preference of high school students in urban public schools.

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Methods - 1

Participants were 589 grades 9-12 high school students (354 boys and 235 girls) aged 16.80 ± 1.60 years from a public school district in New York City.

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Methods -2

These students participated in physical education (PE) programs governed by the state and the school district, once per day and five days per week.

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Methods -3

An adapted version of the Physical Education Activity Attitude Scale (PEAAS) originally developed by Valdez (1998) was administered to the participants. The PEAAS possesses 20 items with 5-point Likert-type scales.

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Methods -4 Responses to the items result in

PEAAS scores ranging from 20 to 100: scores 20-40 indicate negative ATPE; scores 41-60 indicate neutral ATPE; and scores 61-80 indicate positive ATPE. Additionally, a Sports/Activities Preference Questionnaire was also administered to the participants.

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Analysis/Results -1

Results showed that the mean PEAAS score over the 20 items was 68.26 ± 9.94, indicating participants' overall positive ATPE. The three items with the highest scores were: PE is the best way to obtain a young looking and agile body (M = 78.20 ± 17.42); being serious about PE is smart (M = 76.74 ± 19.48); and PE benefits those who regularly participate in it (M = 76.60 ± 20.68).

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Analysis/Results -2

As for sports preference, 65.4% of the participants preferred team sports; 19.5% preferred individual sports; and 15.1% preferred dual-game sports.

As for activities preference, 29.5% of the participants favored weight-lifting; 29.4% favored aerobic exercise; 19.5% favored dance; 13.6% favored outdoor adventure; and 8.0 % favored martial arts.

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Analysis/Results -3

The multivariate analysis of variance results indicated that significant (p < .01) differences in PEAAS scores existed in specific items with respect to gender, social economic status (SES), and sports preference:

(a) males scored higher than females regarding their enjoyment of strenuous exercises;

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Analysis/Results -4 (b) individuals of high social

economy status (SES) scored lower than those of low SES in believing the scientific base of PE; and (c) team-sport players scored higher than both individual-sport and dual-game sport players in believing that exercise could relieve stress.

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Conclusions -1 In conclusion, the

participants in this study appear to possess positive ATPE.

As for sport/activities preference, the participants tend to be in favor of team sports and a variety of activities.

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Conclusions -2

Gender, SES, and sports preference appear to be the factors that most influence the ATPEA of this sample of urban high school students.

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Selected ReferencesLee, A. M. (2004). Promoting lifelong physical activity through quality physical education. Journal

of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 75, 21-26.Malina, R. M. (2001a). Physical activity and fitness: Pathways from childhood to adulthood.

American Journal of Human Biology, 13, 162-172.Malina, R. M. (2001b). Tracking of physical activity across the lifespan. President’s Council on

Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest, 3, 1-8.Matton, L., Thomis, M., Wijndaele, K., Duvigneaud, N., Beunen, G., Claessens, A. L., et al. (2005).

Tracking of physical fitness and physical activity from youth to adulthood in females. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38, 1114-1120.

McKenzie, T. L. (2003). Health-related physical education: Physical, activity fitness, and wellness. In S. J. Silverman & C. D. Ennis (Eds.), Student learning in physical education: Applying research to enhance instruction (pp. 207-226). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

McKenzie, T. L., Sallis, J. F., Prochaska, J. J., Conway, T. L., Marshall, S. J., & Rosengard, P. (2004). Evaluation of a two-year middle-school physical education intervention: M-SPAN. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36, 1382-1388.

New York City Department of Education. (2007). New York City DOE Region 8. From http://en.wikipwdia.org/w/index.php?title=New_York_City_DOE_Region8&redirct=no

New York State Education Department. (2007). The New York State Education Department Physical Education Profile. From http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/pe/profile

Subramaniam, P. R., & Silverman, S. (2002). Using complimentary data: An investigation of student attitude in physical education. Journal of Sport Pedagogy, 8, 74-91.

Subramaniam, P. R., & Silverman, S. (2007). Middle school students’ attitudes toward physical education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 602-611.