Effects of year of schooling, gender, and self-efficacy on high school students participation in physical activity : social and educational implications

A sedentary lifestyle adopted during childhood or adolescence can set the stage for a lifetime of physical inactivity. Moreover, physical inactivity has significant implications for students' participation in school, social integration in school, mental alertness, classroom behaviour, and academic performance. Studies in the USA and Europe have demonstrated a significant decrease in physical activity during adolescence, particularly for girls. However, the pattern of participation in physical activity across different stages of female and male adolescent development in Australia has yet to be systematically investigated. This research surveyed 375 high school students to investigate the effects of age and gender on adolescents' participation in physical activity. Results of the study indicate that 1) physical activity participation levels do not decline significantly as the age of Australian male and female adolescents increases, and 2) female participation in physical activity was not statistically significantly less than male participation. The findings of this study run counter to findings from international studies, and from anecdotal evidence in the Australian context, and suggest that Australian adolescents' participation in physical activity, and its relationship to important schooling outcomes, may not be as predictable as previously suggested in the literature