Attitudes of early adolescent age students towards physical education

Abstract

Studies have shown that a positive attitude towards physical education (PE) is in connection with students' engagement in PE classes and with the development of an active lifestyle. The objective of this study was to examine attitudes of early adolescent age students towards physical education, as well as to examine whether such attitudes vary with regard to gender, grade they attend and students' engagement in sport and physical exercises in extracurricular activities. The research was conducted on the sample of 531 students from 6th to 8th grade. The instrument Student's Attitudes toward Physical Education - SATPE was used to measure student's attitude towards PE. A special questionnaire was used to collect data on gender, grade and engagement in sport and physical exercising outside school. The results have shown that students have positive attitudes of moderate intensity towards physical education. MANOVA has shown that male students have more positive attitudes than female students, as well as that positivity of attitudes declines with age. Likewise, it was shown that students with more positive attitudes towards PE are more often engaged in physical exercises outside school. The connection between the attitude towards PE and involvement in organized sport was not confirmed. The paper presents suggestions for further research of students' attitude towards PE and its connection with physical activity of students.

Keywords

• attitudes
• physical education
• active lifestyle
• sport
• gender differences
• students