Adherence to physical activity: what do boys and girls report?

Introduction

Physical activity behavior is a result of determinants variables, involving intrapersonal, social and environmental factors. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the determinant factor of physical activity in adolescents (from 10 to 15 years of age) living in regions with different sociodemographic and economic factors

Methods

We compared boys (B) (13.55 + 1.54 years of age) and girls (G) (13.46 + 1.88 years old) (n=198) from urban (U) and rural (R) cities in São Paulo State (Brazil) that were surveyed by questionnaire for an year. Qui-square (X²) test was used (p<.05).

Results

Spontaneous report  for social support perception is presented at the table bellow. Data evidenced that lack of  knowledge was the most reported personal barrier (p<.05) for all groups (50.30% UB; 55.50% RB; 53.90% UG; 53.90% RG). On the other hand, lack of self-discipline was reported for adolescents (52.30% RB and 49.70% RG), but not for U, with lack of energy (48.20% B) and worry about body appearance (46.30% G) as personal barriers.

DETERMINANT FACTORS	URBAN		RURAL
	BOYS (%)	GIRLS (%)	BOYS (%)	GIRLS (%)
Parents	10.70	9.80	11.60	17.00
Friends	8.70	9.80	7.30	6.60
Personal Decision	41.10*	35.10*	37.60*	30.70*

Discussion/ Conclusion

Personal decision (self-efficacy) seems to be an important factor to be active among all variables. Lack of knowledge was reported. Parents presented higher influence than friends, boyfriends and teachers (3.70% UB; 2.40% UG; 2.80% RB and 1,80% RG). Thus we conclude that adolescents self-efficacy, based on personal beliefs perception was stronger than other social variables. It reinforces that adolescents’ knowledge related to health might contribute towards maintenance or increase adolescents daily physical activity

References

• [1]. Leslie,E; et alli. Age-related differences in physical activity levels of young adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2001;33:255-258