Introduction: Nurturing students a wide range of generic skills is essential in the school curriculum that enables them to best cope with the challenges of the 21st century. It has been well documented that physical activity participation is related to their physical and social development. However, it is not clear whether physical activity participation also supports developing generic skills. This study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity participation and generic skills development of senior secondary students, specifically how students who participate in different levels differed in their generic skills development. Method: There were 2,949 (1,480 girls and 1,469 boys) Hong Kong Chinese students drawn by stratified random sampling to participate in the survey. The sample comprised 1.38% of all senior secondary students and was deemed to be representive. A questionnaire that measures nine generic skills (collaboration skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, creativity, information technology skills, numeracy skills, self management skills and study skills) and physical activity participation level was distributed to participants for completion. A 2x3 MANOVA was conducted to determine gender (girls vs boys) and physical activity participation effect (active vs somewhat active vs inactive) on the nine generic skills. Results: On the whole, active students scored significantly higher than somewhat active students, somewhat active students scored significant higher than inactive students in creativity, problem solving skills, collaboration skills and study (learning) skills but not in information technology skills among the three groups. There was no significant difference found among girls in active, somewhat active or active groups in communication and numeracy skills. Both active and somewhat active girls scored significantly higher than inactive girls in critical thinking skills. Active girls also scored significantly higher than inactive girls in self management skills. Boys from the active and somewhat active groups scored significantly higher than their inactive counterparts in self management and numeracy skills. Active boys scored significantly higher than inactive boys in communication skills,too. Conclusion: The study proved that significant difference was found between students in physical activity participation groups and their development in generic skills. However, similar investigation is recommended such as experimental, longitudinal or case study to further differentiate the relationship between different physical activity participation groups and generic skills development. Keyword(s): active participation, exercise/fitness/physical activity, gender issues