Attitude toward obesity showed by the teacher-training pupils of the University of Huelva

Abstract

The present study analyses the attitude toward the obesity and the overweight that show the pupils of first and third course of the University of Huelva (N= 299) comparing the students of physical education (N= 123) with the students of kindergarten and primary education (N= 176). This design supposes a replication of the investigation made by O’Brien, Hunter and Banks (2006), who compared the attitude toward the obesity between one group of students of physical education and another group that studies psychology. In order to measure the attitude toward the obesity, explicit and implicit instruments, together with a questionnaire of physical-sport habits were used. The results confirm that all the pupils present a negative attitude toward the obesity and the overweight, being higher in the students of physical education, and among these higher in the pupils of third course. On the other hand, the pupils that show more interest toward the sport, and those students that practice more sports, possess a higher negative attitude toward the obesity and the overweight that those students that are not interested in or don’t practice sport

Keywords

• obesity
• prejudice
• body image
• sport
• physical education