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QUEST, 2004 56, 285-301
© 2004 National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education
The Role of Physical Education
in the Promotion
of Youth Physical Activity
Tristan L. Wallhead and Janet Buckworth
Physical education can be a powerful inuence on promoting youth physical
activity (PA). This review describes correlates of youth PA, examines how these
factors have been targeted in physical education (PE) based interventions, and
makes suggestions for PE pedagogy to promote PA. Perceived physical com-
petence, enjoyment of PA, intention, direct help and support from parents and
signicant others, and opportunities to be active were consistently associated
with youth PA. The large-scale PE-based PA promotion programs that were
successful in increasing out-of-school PA applied a pedagogical framework
targeting variables associated with motivation (i.e., perceived competence,
enjoyment of PA, self-determination). PE based interventions should continue
to address the nature of activities, but also utilize pedagogy that promotes
psychological determinants of student motivation.
The Surgeon General’s “Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Over-
weight and Obesity” (USDHHS, 2001) points to increases in levels of adiposity
in America’s youth and the rapid rise of obesity in children and adolescents. Results
from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2000),
using measured heights and weights, indicate that since 1988 there has been an
estimated 30% increase in the number of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years
who are overweight in the U.S. (NHANES II). Obesity in youth is associated with
an increased risk of type-II diabetes (Goran, 2001); glucose intolerance, hyper-
lipidemia (Dietz, 1998); hypertension (Baskin, Ahluwalia, Resnicow, 2001); and
social discrimination and altered self-esteem (Wabitsch, 2000). Emerging evidence
indicates that physical activity is benecial to the health of children and adoles-
cents (USDHHS, 1996). Among youth, physical activity is inversely associated
with obesity and a number of cardiovascular risk factors (Sallis & Patrick, 1994).
Moreover, because physical activity habits developed early in life may persist
into childhood (Telama, Yang, Laakso, & Vilkari 1997), adequate participation
in physical activity during childhood and adolescence may also be critical in the
prevention of obesity and chronic disease in later life.
The authors are with The Ohio State University Sport and Exercise Education Depart-
ment in Columbus Ohio. E-mail: wallhead.2@osu.edu.
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 287
Physical education can be an important means by which the level of physical
activity can be affected. In fact, Sallis and McKenzie (1991) argued that positive
student motivation in physical education could inuence children to adopt physically
active lifestyles as adults. During the last decade, Sallis and McKenzie’s (1991)
assertion has provided the rationale for an abundance of research (e.g., Ntoumanis,
2001; Solmon, 1996; Treasure & Roberts, 2001) designed to investigate student
motivation in physical education. The basic premise of this research is that if physi-
cal educators are able to increase students’ perceived competence and subsequent
enjoyment of their experiences in physical education, these affective outcomes of
physical education will transfer into motivation to adopt a physically active lifestyle
out of school. This assumption is based on theory and research that suggest that the
experience of enjoyment is a critical factor in determining one’s motivation for and
continued participation in exercise settings (Kremer, Trew, & Ogle, 1997). Harter’s
competence motivation theory (Harter, 1981; Klint & Weiss, 1987) suggests that
enjoyment of physical activity is a result of successful mastery experiences, which
lead to a bolstered perceived competence. Several studies (e.g., Hyams, Carruthers,
Busser, & Tandy, 1995; Telama, 1998) have shown a signicant positive relationship
between perceived competence and participation in physical activity.
Although the assertion that physical education plays a critical role in the
promotion of youth physical activity is inherently appealing to many pedagogues,
a closer inspection of the pedagogy literature reveals a dearth of research that has
investigated the effects of physical education on physical activity outside the school
environment. Youth physical activity is inuenced by a multitude of psychological,
biological, social, cultural, and environmental factors that may affect an individual’s
decision to adopt and maintain a physically active lifestyle (Buckworth & Dish-
man, 2002). Physical education may indeed be a powerful factor in determining
youth physical activity, but the causal linkage between students’ experience and
attitudes toward physical education and their adoption of a physically active lifestyle
has yet to be determined. Further investigation is required to validate Sallis and
McKenzie’s (1991) claim that positive experiences in physical education in child-
hood could inuence the adoption of active lifestyles as adults. Further evidence
must be provided that physical education curricular programs can foster positive
changes in student motivation toward physical activities, such that this motivation
is a signicant determinant of the students’ participation in a more physically active
lifestyle out of school.
The aims of this paper are threefold. The rst aim is to identify, from contem-
porary youth physical activity research, strong, consistent, and modiable correlates
of physical activity. The second aim is to summarize and critique the variables that
have been targeted in large-scale physical activity promotion programs that have
utilized a physical education curriculum intervention for their association with
high levels of youth physical activity. Finally, from this critique, suggestions for
making physical education interventions more effective in promoting youth physi-
cal activity will be presented.
Correlates of Youth Physical Activity
There have been several summaries of correlates of PA in adults (e.g., Sallis &
Owen, 1999) with a more recent update published in 2002 (Trost, Owen, Bauman,
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 287
Sallis, & Brown, 2002). A comprehensive review of studies of correlates of youth
physical activity published from 1970 to 1999 was conducted by Sallis, Prochaska,
and Taylor (2000). The review utilized a semi-quantitative evaluation of the results
of over 100 studies that encompassed young people within the 3-18 years age
range and also compared results for young people of elementary and secondary
school ages. In order to summarize the strength of association between variables
and level of physical activity a criteria was used based upon percentage of studies
that supported the variable as a strong correlate of physical activity. Each variable
was classied as the following: no association (0-33%), indeterminate/inconsistent
(34-59%), positive or negative association (60-100%).
There is very little overlap in consistently correlated variables for both age
groups (Sallis et al., 2000). A synthesis of the Surgeon General’s report on physi-
cal activity for youth (USDHHS, 1996) and the Sallis et al. (2000) review reveals
that the most consistent, modiable correlates of physical activity were perceived
physical competence, enjoyment of physical activity, intention, direct help and
support from parents and signicant others, and opportunities to be active. This
synthesis lends initial support to the contemporary theories described by Klint and
Weiss (1987) and Kremer et al. (1997) that emphasize the critical role perceived
competence and enjoyment play in children’s motivation to continue to participate
in physical activities. Of the correlates investigated by Sallis et al. (2000), about 20-
28% of variables were placed in the indeterminate category. The variable of attitude
toward physical education was classied as indeterminate in its association with
youth physical activity. However, within Sallis et al.’s (2000) review, the authors
state that “it is particularly difcult to draw conclusions about these variables as
the lack of consistency in ndings could be due to differences in measurement or
sample. There also may be confounding or moderating variables that need to be
accounted for in analyses” (p. 970).
In order to further examine the variable of student attitude toward physi-
cal education on youth physical activity, a more detailed analysis of each of the
specic studies utilizing a specic “physical education variable” within the Sallis
et al. (2000) review was conducted. Each study was analyzed, not only from a
measurement perspective, but also for its implication for the physical education
community. Table 1 summarizes the sample, aims, measurement, and results of each
of the studies reviewed by Sallis et al. (2000) that utilized a measure of attitude
toward physical education.
Measurement Issues
The contributions of research to understanding the effects of physical educa-
tion on youth physical activity must be considered in respect to the accuracy of the
measurement of physical activity and psychosocial constructs. Dishman, Wash-
burn, and Schoeller (2001) highlight the challenge researchers face in accurately
measuring physical activity in free-living populations. Although many direct or
indirect methods exist to assess physical activity, investigators interested in trying
to understand patterns of exercise adherence and physical activity over time require
measures that are unobtrusive, practical to administer, and specic about the type,
frequency, duration, and intensity of physical activity. Table 1 reveals that all ve of
the correlational studies of physical activity and attitude toward physical education
within the Sallis et al. (2000) review utilized a self-report measure of physical activity.
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Table 1 Summary of the Studies Within the Sallis et al. (2000) Review That Utilized an Attitude to Physical Education Measure
Study Sample Aims Measurement Results
Butcher (1983) 661 female students, To examine variables that PA- Self-report of the • Average hours per day of physical
grades 6-10. inuence the socialization following: activity showed a consistent decline in
of adolescent girls into Number of interschool value over the ve grades.
physical activity. teams, intramural activities, • School-related physical activity
community-organized variables such as number of school
activities, total number of teams and intramural activities were
activities, average hours most related to satisfaction with sport
per day spent in physical skills and to self-condent, assertive
activity, frequency of par- self-descriptions.
ticipation in four favorite • Involvement in community-organized
activities activities was most related to parental
PE single author-constructed socialization inuence and SES.
item assessing satisfaction • Satisfaction with physical education
with physical education had low correlation with participation
variables
Ferguson et al. 603 students To determine whether PA Self-report of how often • Perceived benets of exercise, self-
(1989) grades 6-8 students’ attitudes toward exercise per week, single esteem, perceived athletic ability and
exercise, physical edu- item on intent to exercise. attitudes to PE correlated to intent
cation, and beliefs about • Same variables signicantly correlated to
themselves were related to PE 2 items assessing attitudes current exercise behavior except attitude
current exercise behavior toward physical education to PE
and intent to exercise
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 289
Zakarian et al. 1634 students, Use of social learning PA Self-report of frequency • Higher overall rates of vigorous exercise
(1994) grades 9-11. theory to investigate of weekly involvement in for 9th grade due, in part, to required
determinants of physical bouts of vigorous physical participation in PE classes
activity in multi-ethnic activity outside school + • Self-efcacy strong correlates of
high school age students frequency of vigorous participation in vigorous exercise for
activity within PE lessons both males and females
• For females, negative attitude to PE
PE attitude – single item predicted participation in vigorous
assessing “liking” of physical exercise.
education.
Trost et al. 202 students, Examine the predictors of PA Self-report previous day • 26% Girls VPA predicted by
(1997) grade 5 vigorous and moderate physical activity recall participation in community team
physical activity among a sports, self-efcacy in overcoming
cohort of rural, predom- PE single item like/dislike barriers, enjoyment of PE, race,
inantly African-American of physical education mother’s activity level.
children • 5% Boys VPA predicted by self-
efcacy to overcome barriers.
• 17% girls MVPA predicted by self-
efcacy in overcoming barriers,
number of community sports teams.
• 17% boys MVPA predicted by beliefs
about physical activity outcomes, number
of community sports teams
Sallis et al. 732 students, Explain change in physical PA One-day recall, • Decline in PA for both boys (3-6%) and
(1999) grades 4 & 5 activity over 2 academic acclerometer, parent report girls (7-12%) over 20-month period
years in subgroups of • Signicant psychological change
children dened on the PE 3 item semantic variables were PE attitude, perceived
basis of gender and differential scale assessing activity competence, activity preference.
adiposity attitude toward PE
.
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 291
In a recent summary of the issues surrounding the measurement of physical activity,
Dishman et al. (2001) suggested that, “on balance, self-report of physical activity
offers the most practical and cost-effective method for use in population based
studies” (p. 295). However, Sallis and Owen (1999) take the position that self-
reported physical activity should not be used with children younger than 9 or 10
years and used cautiously with adolescents up to the age of 15 years. Dishman et
al. (2001) postulated that “physical activity is a multidimensional behavior and no
single assessment method can capture all of its dimensions so therefore the use of
multiple methods can contribute to the understanding of the relationship between
techniques” (p. 309). Of the ve studies detailed in Table 1, only the Sallis et
al. (1999) study utilized a multimethod approach to assessing physical activ-
ity, including both self-report (one-day recall) and objective (accelerometer)
measures.
There are several measurement-related concerns regarding the assessment
of student attitudes toward physical education in the studies detailed in Table 1.
Silverman and Subramaniam (1999), in a recent review of issues relating to the
measurement of student attitude toward physical education and physical activity,
highlight the need for studies within this domain to utilize psychometric theory in
order to determine and present both the validity and reliability of the instruments
used to assess the attitude variable. Silverman and Subramaniam (1999) suggest that,
“when information on the reliability and validity of an instrument is not provided,
the reader is unable to make decisions about the strength of the instrument and the
worth of the data may be questioned” (p.105). None of the ve studies presented in
the Sallis et al. (2000) review (Table 1) either reported or specied the procedures
undertaken to establish the validity of the attitude to physical education subscale
utilized. Within all ve studies, the physical education construct was assessed
with a minimal number of self-report items (less than three). Although attitude to
physical education was one of many variables investigated, reducing the number
of items employed to assess a construct to less than three has major implications
for the reliability of the subscale. The two studies (Ferguson, Yesalis, Promrehn,
& Kirkpatrick, 1989; Sallis, Alcaraz, McKenzie, & Hovell, 1999) that assessed
attitude toward physical education using multiple items also reported the reliability
of the subscale. In three (Butcher, 1983; Zakarian, Hovell, Hofstetter, Sallis, &
Keating, 1994; Trost et al., 1997) of the ve studies, however, only a single item
was employed to assess the construct of attitude/liking of physical education. The
use of only a single item rating scale to represent a construct limits our ability to
analyze and interpret that construct due to its ordinal level of measurement (Hopkins,
Hopkins, & Glass, 1996). Only by having multiple items does a summated scale
approach interval in its level of measurement and so warrants the use of descriptive
statistics, such as mean and standard deviation.
Within all of the ve studies the assessment of attitude toward physical
education was also restricted solely to measurement of the affective dimension, or
the degree of emotional attraction or feeling toward physical education. Mohsin
(1990) points out that this approach of investigating attitude from a unidimensional
perspective is problematic, since, in reality, attitude is a multidimensional latent
construct consisting of cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. Investi-
gating attitude toward physical education using a single-factor model, such as the
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 291
ones employed within the reviewed studies, could result in effectively measuring
only the affective part of the attitude and ignoring the cognitive or belief structures,
which explain the affective response.
Summary of the Results of the Correlational Studies
Despite some of the measurement concerns associated with physical activity
and the constructs of interest within the specic studies, the results of these stud-
ies reveal some consistent patterns of youth physical activity and the correlates
most strongly predictive of physical activity. The ndings from three of the stud-
ies (Butcher, 1983; Zakarian et al., 1994; Sallis et al., 1999) show that as children
progress into adolescence and toward the end of their school years, their level of
physical activity declines. Sallis et al. (1999) demonstrated that, on average, a 3-6%
decrease for boys and 7-12% decrease for girls in physical activity occurred during
only a 20-month period through the 4th and 5th grades. This trend of decline in
physical activity seen in late childhood seems to continue through 6th to 10th grade
(Butcher, 1983) and into school graduation age (Zakarian et al., 1994). Data from
the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys seems to suggest that for females, a decrease in
levels of vigorous activity has contributed to this overall decline in physical activ-
ity (Lowry, Wechsler, Kann, and Collins, 2001). Zakarian et al. (1994) proposes
this decline in vigorous activity during late adolescence is partly explained by
the decrease in required participation in physical education during the graduation
years. Lowry and colleagues (2001), in examining data trends from the Youth
Risk Behavior Surveys (1991 - 1997), found that although PE enrollment in the
total population did not change from 1991 (49%) to 1997 (49%), the prevalence of
students who attended PE daily decreased signicantly. The prevalence of students
who were physically active > 20 minutes in daily physical education classes also
decreased from 34% in 1991 to 22% in 1997 (p < .001; Lowry et al., 2001). Due
to the limitations of the physical activity assessment instrument utilized within the
YRBS (self-report, recall of behavior for the previous seven days), some caution
should be taken in interpreting the results.
The decreased emphasis on requiring students to participate in physical
education during 11th and 12th grades does not satisfy the Healthy People 2010
(USDHHS, 2000) objective of daily physical education. The trend to reduce the
physical education requirement with advancing grade is consistent with the premise
that students would be taught activities during early high school that they would
then continue with, even when not participating in regular physical education.
This outcome clearly does not seem to have been achieved, although the passage
of Title IX in 1972 improved opportunities for females to participate in school-
related physical activities and led to a threefold increase in the number of females
participating in interscholastic sports (Coakley, 1994). The sharp decline in female
physical activity in general throughout the period of adolescence remains and is
more pronounced than in their male counterparts (Lowry et al., 2001). What is not
clear from the results of the studies we have reviewed is the cause of this decline
in female participation. A richer understanding of the factors that explain the sig-
nicant decrease in vigorous activity exhibited by high school girls may require
more evidence of the types of physical activities this population participate in and
insight into gender differences in correlates of physical activity.
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 293
One nding that seems to consistently emerge from the youth physical activ-
ity studies is the gender difference in variables that are most highly correlated with
physical activity. For girls, the most commonly occurring correlates of physical
activity behavior were self-condence related to athletic or sport skills (Butcher,
1983; Ferguson et al., 1989; Sallis et al., 1999; Zakarian et al., 1994) and attitudes
toward physical education (Ferguson et al., 1989; Sallis et al., 1999; Trost et al.,
1997; Zakarian et al., 1994). For boys, again self-efcacy was a powerful deter-
minant of physical activity (Ferguson et al., 1989; Sallis et al., 1999; Trost et al.,
1997; Zakarian et al., 1994), but attitude to physical education was only shown to
be a signicant predictor of physical activity in one study (Sallis et al., 1999). The
gender difference in the role of attitudes toward physical education in explaining
the variance in youth physical activity has implications for the physical education
community. For many girls, it seems a positive (or negative) experience of physical
education has a pronounced effect on their willingness to be involved in physical
activity. Considering the signicant decrease in physical activity in female adoles-
cents, physical educators must pay greater attention to the needs of this population
of students and consider modifying existing school physical education programs
to accommodate the physical activity interests of girls. Williams, Bedward, and
Woodhouse (2000), for example, reported that secondary-aged girls favor lifetime
activities, such as individual games and swimming and dance, over other team
game-related activities.
From the Sallis et al. (2000) review, the most powerful psychological cor-
relates of female youth physical activity seem to be perceived competence and
attitude to physical education. Motivational climate research in physical education
(Papaioannou, 1997; Treasure, 1997) has shown that both of these variables have
the potential to be manipulated by the choice of pedagogy and content a teacher
employs within a physical education curriculum. The question thus arises regard-
ing the delity of physical education based activity interventions in targeting these
important correlates of youth physical activity for both females and males.
Review of Large-Scale Physical Education-Based
Physical Activity Interventions
Recent reviews of the effects of physical activity interventions in youth
(Stone, McKenzie, Welk, & Booth, 1998; Ringuet & Trost, 2001) have shown that
physical education curricular interventions are often utilized within large-scale
school-based programs designed to increase levels of youth physical activity.
Over the past decade, 12 large-scale physical activity intervention programs have
been completed. These programs included (a) quantitative assessment of physical
activity, (b) a comparison or control group (randomized or nonrandomized) design,
(c) preschool through high school age participants, (d) U.S. and foreign school or
community settings, and (e) were published in English (Stone et al., 1998). Seven
of the 12 studies utilized a specic physical activity based physical education
curriculum as part of the intervention program. A brief summary of the nature of
the physical education intervention and the results of each of these seven studies
is presented.
The Go for Health (GFH) program (Simons-Morton, Parcel, Baranowski,
Forthofer, & O’Hara, 1991) was a school-based intervention designed to improve
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 293
elementary school-aged students’ diet and physical activity behavior at school.
The GFH intervention used a physical education curriculum (Children’s Active
Physical Education: CAPE), which consisted of ve, 6- to 8-week units, designed
to encourage enjoyable moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity (MVPA)
among children during physical education (PE) classes (Simons-Morton et al.,
1991). In addition, the CAPE program was designed to target an increase in students’
knowledge, attitude, and self-efcacy for physical activity. The physical education
unit included two or three main cardiovascular tness activities, such as dancing,
running, aerobic games, jump rope, and obstacle courses with each class session
consisting of a warm-up, tness development, cool down, and game activities. The
program was effective in increasing the students’ level of MVPA within PE lessons
and also their knowledge, attitudes, and self-efcacy toward physical activity. The
intervention was, however, unsuccessful in its attempts to increase the students’
out-of-school physical activity.
The Nebraska School Study (Donnelly et al., 1996), a 2-year intervention,
was designed to reduce obesity and improve the tness levels of rural elementary
school children in Nebraska by promoting physical activity within physical edu-
cation and during lunch recesses. Donnelly et al. (1996) stated that the physical
education program included “activities designed to promote energy expenditure
and decrease time-off-task using the guidelines of Physical Best, a program of the
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance” (p. 232).
The results of the study revealed a 6% increase in student physical activity within
PE lessons; however, the students also reported a 15% decrease in out of school
physical activity from the beginning to the end of the 2-year intervention.
The CV Health in Children (CHIC; Harrell et al., 1996) was a classroom-
based program designed to reduce cardiovascular risk factors in elementary school
children. As part of the program, the intervention students received 24 lessons of
physical activity based PE lessons that involved students participating in non-
competitive aerobic activities such as jump rope to music, “endless relay,” and
parachute and aerobic dance (Harrell et al., 1996). Utilizing the school as the unit
of analysis, the results of the study revealed that the intervention schools had a 23%
increase in self-reported physical activity as opposed to the 15% increase found in
the comparison schools. At the individual level of analysis, however, this difference
between groups on reported physical activity was nonsignicant.
One of the largest and most rigorously monitored and evaluated school-based
physical activity promotion intervention for elementary school-aged children has
been the Child and Adolescent Trial for CV Health (CATCH; McKenzie et al., 1996).
A major component of this 2.5-year program, implemented in 96 public schools in
four states, was the health-related physical education curricular program (CATCH
PE). The goals of the CATCH PE curricular program were to promote children’s
enjoyment of and participation in MVPA during PE classes and to provide skills to
be used out of school and throughout life that would promote regular participation
in physical activity (McKenzie et al., 1994). The content of the CATCH PE cur-
riculum consisted of materials designed for a series of developmentally appropriate
activities organized into instructional units, such as aerobic games, aerobic sports,
jump rope, and rhythmic activities. Unlike many of the PE curricular programs
utilized in previous large-scale intervention studies (Simons-Morton et al., 1991;
Donnelly et al., 1996; Harrell et al., 1996), the CATCH PE program also reinforced
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 295
an appropriate pedagogy for teachers to adopt while delivering the content. McK-
enzie et al (1996) stated, “while using appropriate teaching methods, and model-
ing enthusiasm for an active lifestyle, teachers were to engage students in MVPA
during at least 40% of the physical education class period” (p. 424). Results of the
2.5-year intervention included increased student MVPA during physical education
lessons and increased out-of-school vigorous physical activity for the intervention
group for 3 years following program completion.
The Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK; Sallis et al., 1997)
involved a 2-year physical education specic intervention that was designed to
increase 4th and 5th grade students’ physical activity during PE classes and outside
school. The SPARK program utilized health-related activities, such as jump rope
and aerobic games, and also incorporated sport skill-related movement activities
such as soccer and basketball skills within lessons. Students were also taught
behavior-change skills using a self-management program designed to help children
generalize regular physical activity outside of school. Results of the intervention
showed that the program was effective in making students more moderately to
vigorously active during PE lessons; however, there was no change in students’
out-of-school physical activity.
Although several large-scale projects designed to promote physical activity
in secondary school-aged students are in progress (LEAP, Dishman et al., 2004;
MSPAN, McKenzie, 2001; TAAG), few interventions that have utilized a compari-
son group have been completed with this age group. Project Active Teens (Dale,
Corbin, & Cuddihy, 1998) is one program that incorporated a theoretically driven
physical education curriculum as an intervention strategy to increase the physical
activity of a group of high school students. The study examined the physical activity
participation of students 1-3 years after they had been exposed to a year-long, 9th
grade conceptual physical education program. The Conceptual Physical Education
program (CPE) involved using the social cognitive theory of cognitive evaluation
(Deci & Ryan, 1985) to teach concepts and facts about physical activity and tness
as well as behavioral skills, such as activity monitoring, goal setting, and program
planning. Results indicated an increase in moderate physical activity for males and
a reduced rate of inactivity for females within the intervention group.
Summary of Large-Scale, Physical Education Based
Physical Activity Promotion Interventions
The results of these large-scale youth physical activity promotion intervention
programs reveal few positive ndings on measures assessing out-of-school physical
activity (Stone et al., 1998). The Nebraska School Study (Donnelly et al., 1996)
even reported a decrease in out-of-school physical activity for the intervention
group over the 2-year intervention program. Of the studies that utilized a physical
education curriculum, CATCH (McKenzie et al., 1994) and Project Active Teens
(Dale et al., 1998) were the only interventions that reported signicant results in
the desired direction. When increasing physical activity within physical education
lessons was a target variable of the intervention, physical activity within lessons
was usually achieved (Simons-Morton et al., 1991; Donnelly et al., 1996; McKenzie
et al., 1994; Sallis et al., 1997) and in CATCH III a signicant increase in out-of-
school vigorous activity was maintained even after three years without additional
CATCH PE intervention with the students (McKenzie et al., 2001).
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Healthy People 2010 (USDHHS, 2000) supports the notion that PE classes
should be sufciently active (i.e., 50% of class time; Objective 22-10). This objec-
tive has been identied so that youths are better able to meet the recommended
daily levels of at least 30-60 minutes of physical activity (Corbin & Pangrazi,
1998; Health Education Authority, 1998; Sallis & Patrick, 1994). With the decline
over the past decade in the percentage of students who attend physical education
daily (42% to 32%; Lowry et al., 2001), it becomes clear that having increased
student physical activity within physical education lessons is insufcient to meet
the CDC recommendations for health-promoting levels of physical activity. Unless
the trend to decrease required daily physical education is reversed, children must
be motivated to participate in frequent sessions of moderate to vigorous activity
outside of PE classes in order for the Healthy People 2010 recommendations to
be met. The number of large-scale school-based interventions that have been most
successful in achieving this goal is limited. The Project Active Teens and CATCH
programs are exemplars of interventions that were successful in utilizing a physi-
cal education curriculum to promote out-of-school physical activity. Unlike many
of the physical education programs utilized as school-based interventions, these
two studies adopted a curricular approach, which seemed to be embedded within a
particular theoretical pedagogical ethos. The delivery of the content within Project
Active Teens (Dale et al., 1998) was situated within Cognitive Evaluation Theory,
which proposes that adolescents are more motivated to persist in behaviors if they
have a perception of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
The goals of the CATCH PE curricular program stipulated a teaching meth-
odology that was designed to “promote student enjoyment of and participation in
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during PE classes and to provide
skills to be used out of school and throughout life” (McKenzie et al., 1996, p. 424).
Although much of the delivery of the content of CATCH PE was teacher-directed,
the pedagogy that emphasized student enjoyment and the provision for education
on skills to manage physical activity may have contributed to the increase in out-
of-school physical activity that was maintained for a further 3 years post-interven-
tion. The importance of both content and pedagogy in promoting physical activity
is supported by Greenwood-Parr and Oslin (1998), who contend that exposure to
the range of “lifetime activities” within physical education is only the start of the
process of making students lifelong participants in physical activity. Students are
more likely to want to continue their involvement in an activity if their PE lessons
allow them to experience self-determination and feel competent in their own abili-
ties (Greenwood-Parr & Oslin, 1998). By engaging the students in activities where
they had mastery experiences and encouraging students to be active, the CATCH
PE program may have been successful in promoting student enjoyment of physical
activity. By also providing relevant information on skills to manage out-of-school
physical activity, the program gave the students a sense of self-determination toward
physical activity behavior. These two affective outcomes are both powerful indi-
vidual factors in determining motivated behaviors (Ferrer-Caja & Weiss, 2000)
and may partly explain the success of the CATCH intervention.
Perceived competence is a powerful psychological correlate of youth physi-
cal activity. Studies undertaken to examine specically the relationship between
perceived competence and enjoyment in physical activity generally support theoreti-
cal perspectives about the role of perceived competence in inuencing enjoyment
(Brustad, 1993; Williams & Gill, 1995). The results of a recent study by Carroll
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 297
and Loumidis (2001) show that students who perceived themselves as more com-
petent in physical education participated in more physical activity at higher levels
of intensity than those who perceived themselves to be less competent. The results
of this study also provided evidence that children who had failed to participate in
any activity in the previous week perceived their competence in physical education
to be signicantly lower than those who had participated in the recommended daily
amount of physical activity (Carroll & Loumidis, 2001). These ndings suggest
an association between students’ perceived competence in physical education and
their out-of-school physical activity.
Recent theories of motivation (Ames, 1992) applied to physical activity
(Duda, Chi, Newton, Walling, & Catley, 1995) and physical education settings
(Treasure & Roberts, 2001) have suggested that students’ perception of compe-
tence within a physical activity is shaped by their motivational orientations and
the class climate created by the teacher. Achievement goal theory (Nicholls, 1989)
states that individuals will have a tendency to be either task-oriented and focus on
mastering the activity through active engagement and high effort or ego-oriented
and participate in the activity in order to demonstrate normative superiority. Recent
research (Treasure & Roberts, 2001) has shown that the type of goal orientation
adopted by a student may be affected by the pedagogy or the type of instruction
delivered by the teacher. A pedagogy that fosters student choice in tasks promotes
cooperative group structures, recognizes individual improvement through private
recognition, and adjusts time allocated for tasks dependent on student learning will
foster a more task-involved climate and bring about more positive affective student
responses (Ames, 1992). The notion of allowing students “time to learn” (Bloom,
1985, p. 185) has also been delineated as a key instructional variable in promoting
mastery learning experiences within educational research.
Research has also shown that the effect of teacher feedback on students’
perception of competence within physical education lessons varies dependent on
the age (Weiss, Ebbeck, & Horn, 1997) and gender (Biddle & Armstrong, 1992)
of the students. Biddle and Armstrong (1992) found that a sample of 11-12-year-
old boys appeared to be less dependent on the teacher, less interested in pleasing
the teacher and obtaining good marks, but interested in the challenge of the activ-
ity for its own sake. In contrast, active girls showed a tendency toward extrinsic
autonomous judgment whereby they were dependent on the teacher’s opinion or
judgment about what to do and how well they had performed in PE (Biddle &
Armstrong, 1992). This latter nding may begin to explain the gender difference on
the correlation between the variables “attitudes to physical education” and “youth
physical activity” (Sallis et al., 2000).
Summary and Recommendations
The promotion of youth physical activity is a complex task. Despite its com-
plexity, the public health benets of having a physically active youth population
outweigh the difculties associated with designing and implementing a multifactor
intervention. Numerous descriptive and correlational studies show that physical
activity levels decline as children age (Sallis et al., 2000), and the decline is so
great within adolescence that this age group has been referred to as a risk factor
for physical inactivity (Rowland, 1999).
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Sallis and McKenzie (1991) have suggested that physical education may be
a key factor in the promotion of youth physical activity. The results of the Sallis et
al. (2000) review reveal that attitude toward physical education was indeterminate
in its association with levels of youth physical activity. The authors suggest that the
lack of consistency in the ndings could, however, be due to differences in measure-
ment or population sample or confounding or moderating variables that need to be
accounted for within the analyses. A review of the specic studies that utilized an
assessment of attitude toward physical education revealed that the measurement
of this variable was indeed problematic within many of the studies.
Sallis et al.’s (2000) review did illustrate that during adolescence, psycho-
logical variables such as achievement orientation, perceived competence in an
activity, and intention to be active are very important variables in determining
level of physical activity. Research conducted within physical education over the
last decade (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999) has demonstrated the potential role that
physical educators can play in determining students’ achievement orientation and
facilitating an increased perception of competence and enjoyment within an activity
area (Treasure & Roberts, 2001). Research (Carroll & Loumidis, 2001) has also
shown that students who perceived themselves as more competent in physical educa-
tion participate in more out-of-school physical activity at higher levels of intensity
than those who perceived themselves to be less competent. This evidence suggests
that teaching strategies utilized in physical education, such as those associated with
a task-oriented climate, inuence the psychological mediators of youth physical
activity, such as perceived competence, enjoyment, and intention to be active.
From the review of the large-scale physical activity interventions, which utilized
physical education curricular programs, the effectiveness of physical education
within this process seems to be dependent, not only on the content, but also the
pedagogy embedded within the curriculum. The interventions that were success-
ful in increasing students’ out-of-school physical activity were either embedded
within pedagogical motivational theoretical frames (Project Active Teens; Dale et
al., 1998) or emphasized a pedagogy that fostered student enjoyment as a critical
factor within the design of the curriculum (CATCH; McKenzie et al., 1997).
Although physical education is still mandated in nearly all 50 states of the
United States (NASPE, 2002), secondary school level participation in PE is declin-
ing, both in terms of overall enrollment and the number of classes students have
per week (Lowry et al., 2001). This reduction in curriculum time limits physical
education’s potential to inuence youth physical activity. For example, even if
students are physically active for 100% of physical education lesson time, it is still
insufcient to meet the demands of the CDC recommendations for health-promoting
levels of physical activity. If physical education is to play an important role in the
promotion of youth physical activity, exposing students to a range of tness, sport,
and recreational physical activities is only the start of the process. Students are only
likely to want to continue their involvement in an activity if their physical education
lessons allow them to experience self-determination and feel competent in their own
abilities (Greenwood-Parr & Oslin, 1998). This self-determination may be achieved
by implementing a content that teaches students effective activity self-management
skills (McKenzie et al., 1997); however, theories of motivation suggest that the
success of curricular programs is also dependent on the methodology employed
by the teacher. Content may give our youths the physical and behavioral skills;
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THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 299
however, without an appropriate pedagogy that fosters enjoyment, the motivation
to continue to participate may be lost.
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