Referred to the internalization of historical, community, and societal values, practices, and expectations regarding one's gender (Tenebaum & Leaper, 2002), gender role beliefs influence student motivation and performance in a variety of activities, including physical activities. As a lifelong activity, running has been promoted to increase students' physical activity levels in many school physical education programs. But no empirical data are available concerning children's gender role beliefs about running. Inquiry in this area will have important implications on our efforts to promote physical activity among children. Therefore, guided by the expectancy-value model of achievement choices (Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998), the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between children's gender role beliefs and their motivation and performance in running programs.
Methods
Participants were 461fifth graders (244 boys, 217 girls) from two intermediate schools, who participated in running programs conducted in their regularly scheduled physical education classes. They completed a questionnaire assessing their gender role beliefs about running, competence beliefs, task values (importance, interest, usefulness) and intention for future running participation on 5-point scales. All items were adapted from the literature (e.g., Xiang, McBride, & Bruene, 2004). Students also completed a timed mile run test as a measure of running performance.
Analysis/Results
Analysis/Results: Based on the mean (M = 2.45) and standard deviation (SD =1.20) of the variable of gender role beliefs, students (n = 78) scoring higher than 3.63 (i.e., M+1SD) were classified as the high beliefs group as their scores indicated they believed running is masculine. Students (n = 103) scoring lower than 1.25 (i.e., M-1SD) were classified as the low beliefs group as their scores indicated they did not believe running is masculine. Then a 2 (gender) x 2 (group) MANOVA examined the effect of gender role beliefs on children's motivation and performance. Results revealed the significant interaction between gender and group only, Pillai's Trace = .113, F (173, 5) = 4.41, η2 = .11, p = .001. Independent t-tests revealed girls who did not consider running masculine reported higher interest and competence beliefs in running than girls who considered running masculine. Boys considering running masculine were found to hold higher competence beliefs in running than their female counterparts.
Conclusions
Results of this study generally support the literature that gender role beliefs are related to children's motivation. To promote running in schools, teachers should emphasize that running is appropriate for both boys and girls.
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