The moderating effect of gender on physical activity participation and physical fitness in children

Health SA Gesondheid

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The moderating effect of gender on physical activity participation and physical fitness in children
 
Creator Gomwe, Howard Phiri, Lesego Marange, Chioneso Show
 
Subject — physical activity; physical fitness; gender; school learner; children; moderating
Description Background: The level, direction or presence of the relationship between perceived physical activity (PA) participation and physical fitness (PF) in children may differ by gender and this will assist in designing gender-specific interventions to promote PA participation, which in turn improves PF levels.Aim: This study aimed to establish the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between perceived PA participation and PF.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a cohort of 870 primary school children aged 9–14 years old. Perceived PA participation was measured using the PAQ-C questionnaire while PF levels were measured using cardiorespiratory endurance (i.e. VO2 max).Results: The results showed significant gender differences for perceived PA participation levels (t = −3.40, p ≤ 0.001) and PF (t = −11.59, p ≤ 0.001), with boys reporting higher levels than the girls. Perceived PA participation had a positive, weak and statistically significant correlation with PF (r = 0.251; p ≤ 0.001). Gender significantly moderates the relationship between perceived PA participation and PF (β3 = 3.518; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.642 to 6.395; p = 0.017).Conclusion: The moderating effect of gender on the relationship between perceived PA participation and PF highlights the differences in physiology as well as the societal PA associated roles played by boys and girls.Contribution: The study has established that the relationship between perceived PA participation and PF is more pronounced among boys than girls.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2024-08-20
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hsag.v29i0.2672
 
Source Health SA Gesondheid; Vol 29 (2024); 6 pages 2071-9736 1025-9848
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Howard Gomwe, Lesego Phiri, Chioneso Show Marange https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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