According to Couturier, Chepko, and Coughlin (2005), students' non-participation during physical education class was categorized into curricular, social, and environmental issues. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing middle school students' non-participation in PE.
Method
A total of 150 public middle school students (70 females and 80 females) in one school located in Southern California participated in this study. 70 female students were conventionally recruited from 6th (n=18), 7th (n=20), and 8th Grade (n=32); whereas 80 males from 6th (n=26), 7th (n=23), and 8th (n=31). A questionnaire (Physical Education Non-participation Survey: PENS) was developed for this study. The PENS was consisted of 16 items for three main factors (teacher influence, skill competency and physical education content, and social support/personal reasons), measuring teacher influence (3 items), skill competence and physical education content (7 items), social support (2 items) and personal reasons (4 items). Based on the EFA analyses, items 3 and 13 were deleted. Therefore, the PENS included a total of 14 items. T-Tests were used to examine any gender difference on three factors influencing student's non-participation. ANOVAs were conducted to investigate any difference on non-participation by Grade levels (i.e., 6th, 7th, 8th). 2x3 MANOVAs were also used to examine gender and grade level effects on three factors.
Analysis/Results
Results found out that there was no gender difference on teacher influence (male M=13.87; female M=13.32), skill competency/PE content (male M=36.02; female M=34.02), and personal reasons (male M=16.17; female M=15.98). Similarly, results from ANOVAs revealed no statistical group difference on the three factors across grade levels. However, 2x3 MANOVAs revealed significant gender x grade level differences on individual choices (i.e., personal reasons). Female sixth graders were contributed to the significant differences compared to male and 7th and 8th graders. However, students described their feeling toward physical education favorably (n =90, 60%), followed by neutral response (n=3, 2%), not favorable comments (n=23, 15%), and no response (n=34, 23%). Interestingly, the result showed that 60% of students (n=90) described PE classes “fun and enjoyable”; whereas 15% of middle school students (n=23) perceived PE “boring or dislike”.
Conclusions
With the prevalence of obesity in America, physical educators must employ more effective strategies to promote activity participation in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Regarding student gender and grade level, various teaching strategies, course contents, course evaluation methods for student participation and non-participation should be carefully designed.