Abstract:

Background: Despite the known health benefits of an active lifestyle, physical inactivity is a persistent and increasing problem among adolescents. The purpose of this research was to study the effect of enrolling and participating in an elective high school physical education class on adolescent physical activity level. The analysis is carried out through a Self-Determination Theory lens and assesses the role of intrinsic motivation for physical activity.

Methods: Participants from three high schools completed self-report measures of physical activity level and motivation for physical activity in a longitudinal design.

Results: We found that students enrolled in elective physical education courses (PESs) were significantly more intrinsically motivated to be physically active than non-physical education students (N-PESs). PESs were also found to be significantly more physically active than N-PESs consistently over time. The most important finding of this research was that physical education acts as a moderating variable that enables adolescents to remain physically active over time, regardless of motivation for physical activity. Those students with the highest overall level of physical activity were those who combined physical education with a high level of intrinsic motivation.

Conclusions: We conclude that those students who have regularly scheduled class time dedicated to being physically active maintain consistently higher levels of physical activity regardless of motivation level.

Keywords:

Physical Education, adolescent physical activity level, Self-Determination Theory, intrinsic motivation.