Addressing context to understand physical activity among Muslim university students: the role of gender, family, and culture

Abstract

BackgroundPhysical inactivity is a crucial risk factor for the development of chronic health issues, which have a high incidence among Arabs living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The Qatar Stepwise Survey 2012 reported that approximately 44% of young adults 18–44 years of age had insufficient levels of physical activity. Family is a powerful source of information and socialization for adolescents and has a strong influence on their attitudes, decision-making, and behaviors.MethodsThe purpose of this study is to understand how university students’ physical activity can be influenced by sociocultural factors, particularly family health values and Muslim Arab culture. Using the criterion sampling strategy, 20 undergraduate Muslim students (Female students =10, Male students = 10) aged from 18 to 23 years who were Qatari or born and also raised in Qatar were recruited and interviewed. Participants were asked if they consider themselves active or not, about their perception of family health values regarding physical activity and the factors shaping these values, and the influence of family values on their physical activity behavior. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed following inductive analysis.ResultsThe majority of the participants were influenced by their family health values, which were shaped by Qatari culture and the culture of origin for non-Qatari and were implicitly shaped by Islam. Participants reported that their role models of physical activity were males (fathers and male siblings), a health condition will motivate their families to be physically active, and families give priority to work and academic achievement over physical activity. A few participants showed that there was explicit influence of Islam on their physical activity, because culture’s influence was veiling religion’s. Culture was seen as a facilitator for physical activity from the males’ perspectives, which was not the case for female participants who reported the negative influence of culture on their physical activity because of the limited choices available for them. Non-Qatari students revealed that their culture of origin (such as Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Pakistan and India) was the dominant factor in shaping their family health values.ConclusionsThe findings address gaps in the literature about families’ health values regarding physical activity in Qatar, the influence of the different ecologies surrounding these values, and the physical activity behaviors of university students. Knowledge about these factors can aid in the development of family-based interventions designed to motivate adolescents to be physically active, which should be religion- and culture-tailored.

Socio-Demographic and Psychological Determinants of Leisure Time Physical Activity Among Adolescents in Nigeria

“…This could be said that some parents give priority to high academic involvement and achievement without considering the crucial role that LTPA could play in enhancing children's mental ability. This is similar to the study conducted by Aljayyousi et al (2019) who found that some students mentioned that their families give priority to work, personal and family commitments, and academic achievement over physical activity. Yao and Rhodes (2015) concluded that the relationship between father-son PA modeling was higher than mother-son PA modeling, yet the findings were similar for the relationship between mother-daughter and father-daughter PA modeling.…”

“…In their meta-analysis, Yao and Rhodes (2015) concluded that the relationship between father-son was higher than that of mother-son modelling, while the same occurred between motherdaughter and father-daughter. Aljayyousi et al (2019) indicated that some students highlighted that their families give priority to work, personal commitments and academic achievement over involvement in PA. They added that father spend long hours at work and the mother would take care of family members and doing housework, which negatively impacted physical activity time and choices.…”

Enabling Better Physical Activity and Screen Time Behaviours for Adolescents from Middle Eastern Backgrounds: Semi-Structured Interviews with Parents

“…In the current study, the parents revealed that boys were much more likely to be involved in sport and that girls were more likely to grow disinterested as they become older. The parents also communicated the lack of serious opportunities for continuous engagement in sports in schools, especially in Islamic schools, in particular for girls and older adolescents [ 71 ]. This was corroborated by the frustration that was expressed by adolescent girls regarding a lack of sporting initiatives and the experience of being denied access to sports facilities.…”

Prevalence, Patterns and Predictors of physical activity in Urban Population of Bhubaneswar smart city, India

“…Lower levels of motivation, limited free time, fear of falling, cost, transportation, pain, and lack of enjoyment are seen as barriers to participating in regular PA (20)(21)(22). A report from Kenya found associations between low levels of PA and the demographic and social changes that prevail there (23). However, no previous work has specifically looked into the PA patterns and the factors that predict PA among the urban population in Odisha state of India.…”