Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Physical fitness for youth--Health aspects--Iowa--Vinton; Youth--Health and hygiene--Iowa--Vinton; Youth--Health and hygiene; Iowa--Vinton; Dissertation, Academic; Academic theses;

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical fitness measures, selected psychosocial correlates of physical activity, and self-reported physical activity among seventh and eighth-grade students in rural Iowa. Computerized physical fitness measures were obtained by the HealthFirst Trifit™ computer system, attitudes about physical activity were measured by the Correlates of Physical Activity in Children (CP AC) questionnaire, and physical activity levels were measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire-Adolescents (PAQ-A). All subjects were enrolled at Tilford Middle School in Vinton, Iowa. Data were collected on 253 seventh and eighth grade students enrolled at Tilford Middle School in Vinton, Iowa during Spring semester 2002. The study sample included 117 girls and 136 boys. Students ranged in age from 12 to 15 years, with a mean age of 13.2 years. Parents of all participants provided a signed informed consent and children provided verbal assent. The study showed that male adolescents are more physically active, usually at a higher exercise intensity, than female adolescents. The most common activity participated in for both boys and girls was running or jogging. The majority of the adolescents in this study spend at least two hours every day viewing television, watching videos, or using a computer. A large majority of middle school adolescents in the present study report being "very active" in physical education, although there is an indication that the boys are somewhat more active than girls in physical education class. "Attraction to I Physical Activity" was found to be the single most important correlate of physical activity for both boys and girls. It is noteworthy to point out, however, that over half of the variance associated with children's physical activity was not explained by the two-factor prediction model that emerged from this study. Clearly there are many factors that influence the decision of an adolescent youth to engage in physical activity or not, many of which were not examined in this study.

Year of Submission

2006

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Larry Hensley

Second Advisor

Forrest Dolgener

Third Advisor

Kevin Finn

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2006

Object Description

1 PDF file (85 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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