Our results strongly suggest that daily physical education at the primary school level has had a significant long-term positive effect on the exercise habits on women, despite similar perceived barriers, attitudes, and intention to exercise in the two groups. The program has also had a significant health effect in men, substantially reducing the risk of becoming a regular smoker. Because the program was not specifically designed to promote health, we hypothesize that a health-oriented physical education program could have an even stronger effect.

The purpose of this project was to undertake a long-term follow-up of participants in the Trois-Rivières Growth and Development Study. Some 20 years after their initial involvement in the program, two groups were compared: experimental subjects (n =150) who had received 5 one-hour sessions of specialized physical education per week throughout their 6 years of primary school, and the original control group (n = 103). All subjects completed a questionnaire regarding current patterns of physical activity (PA), attitudes and beliefs about PA, and perceived barriers to PA. Principal results indicate: (a) More experimental than control women exercise 3 times or more per week, (b) experimental subjects more commonly perceived their health to be very good to excellent, (c) control subjects in general felt less psychological dependency on exercise, and (d) women in the experimental group had a lower relative risk of back problems.

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