Background/Purpose: Several NASPE standards for Physical Education (PE) relate to maintaining physical fitness, suggesting that children who receive PE should be developing an understanding of how to be physically fit across their lifespan. However, the prevalence of obese adults in the United States remains high and the percentage of people who report no leisure time physical activity (PA) has stayed relatively stable. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge of basic PA principles in a diverse sample of college students in both large and small metropolitan areas.
Method: Participants (N = 306) completed an online survey that assessed current PA habits, demographic variables and PE history (number of years they had PE in high school, public vs. private high school, and city of Chicago vs. non-city of Chicago high school), as well as questions pertaining to principles of PA and exercise garnered from health and wellness textbooks.
Analysis/Results: Results indicated that students who are white, male, get more exercise, attended non-city high schools, have a lower BMI, and have a higher household income earned better scores on the quiz of PA principles. Interestingly, for African American participants, major was also strongly related to quiz results, with African American PE majors scoring significantly better than African Americans who were not PE majors.
Conclusions: College level courses in PE are helpful in informing minority (e.g., African American) populations about exercise principles, raising their level of understanding and knowledge to one more closely resembling that of Caucasian participants.
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