Background/Purpose In a recent study (Webster, et al., in press), high school students in compulsory physical education with more motivation to learn rated their teachers higher in communicating content relevance and, subsequently perceived the class as more personally relevant. Furthermore, perceived class relevance enhanced affect for physical education, which led to greater intentions to use class content following the course. The present study examined these relationships while considering differences in student gender, body mass index (BMI), organized sport participation (OSP) and free time physical activity (FTPA; Booth, Okely, Chey, & Bauman, 2001).
Method Modified questionnaires assessing biographical information (gender, BMI, FTPA, OSP), state motivation (SM; Richmond, 1990), teacher communication of content relevance (CCR; Frymier & Shulman, 1995), perceived class relevance (PCR; Keller, 1983), and affective learning – defined at two levels including affect for physical education (AL; McCroskey, 1994) and intentions to use class content following the course (INT; Hagger, Chatzisarantis, & Biddle, 2001) – were given to high school students (N=636; mean age=14.93±.89) enrolled in compulsory physical education.
Analysis/Results Confirmatory factor analysis was performed, extending the results of Webster et al. (in press) and supporting the internal validity of the measures. Multiple cause multiple indicator modeling showed that being female negatively impacted SM and PCR; higher BMI positively impacted PCR; more OSP negatively impacted CCR; and more FTPA positively impacted all other constructs in the model.
Conclusions Differences in student gender, BMI, OSP and FTPA should be considered to maximize students future use of class content taught in physical education.