Associations between Feelings of Loneliness and Attitudes towards Physical Education in Contemporary Adolescents According to Sex, and Physical Activity Engagement

Abstract

Background: Currently, adolescents grow up consuming a large amount of multimedia content and lead a sedentary lifestyle. As a result, emerging trends show greater feelings of loneliness. The present research seeks to describe adolescents’ attitudes towards Physical Education (PE), indices of loneliness and physical activity (PA) engagement. Further, it analyses associations between attitudes towards PE as a function of PA engagement and considers sex, loneliness and school year repetition as factors. Method: A sample of 2388 adolescents (43.3% males and 56.6% females) was recruited. Participants were aged 11–17 years (M = 13.8 years; SD = 1.2) and came from Spain. The following instruments were used: The Attitudes towards Physical Education questionnaire (AQPE) in order to analyze attitudes towards PE, and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale to estimate loneliness. Results: With regard to sex and attitudes towards PE, significant differences were detected in relation to the difficulty of PE, with higher values being achieved in males (M = 2.4) than females (M = 2.3). A medium correlation emerged between the dimension of loneliness and the usefulness of PE (r = 0.323 **). Conclusions: It is confirmed that adolescents who experience greater levels of emotional or relational loneliness have less positive attitudes towards PE.

Clustering of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Diet Associated With Social Isolation Among Brazilian Adolescents

“…The literature has shown that some psychosocial outcomes of adolescents can be in uenced by obesogenic behaviors such as PA, diet, and SB [2,11,13]. In addition, there is evidence that adolescents with healthier obesogenic behavior pro les have better socialization, with lower chances of loneliness [5,9,10]. Our ndings also highlight the fact that many adolescents have lifestyles de ned by the coexistence of favorable and unfavorable health behaviors [14].…”

“…The problem that arises is that: (a) being in an obesogenic cluster can make socialization di cult, increasing social isolation [9,10]; and (b) clusters that combine positive and negative behaviors can still favor better socialization and psychological disposition in adolescents when compared to clusters that mostly combine risk behaviors [2,11].…”

Clustering of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet associated with social isolation among brazilian adolescents

“…The literature has shown that some psychosocial outcomes of adolescents can be influenced by obesogenic behaviors such as PA, diet, and SB [ 2 , 11 , 15 ]. In addition, there is evidence that adolescents with healthier obesogenic behavior profiles have better socialization, with lower chances of loneliness [ 5 , 9 , 10 ]. Our findings also highlight the fact that many adolescents have lifestyles defined by the coexistence of favorable and unfavorable health behaviors [ 16 ].…”

“…The problem that arises is that: (a) being in an obesogenic cluster can make socialization difficult, increasing social isolation [ 9 , 10 ]; and (b) clusters that combine positive and negative behaviors can still favor better socialization and psychological disposition in adolescents when compared to clusters that mostly combine risk behaviors [ 2 , 11 ]. The pioneering study by Iannotti and Wang (2013) [ 11 ], which investigated clusters of obesogenic behaviors and their impact on physical and mental health in adolescents in the United States, found that the group with the highest sedentary behavior and the highest proportion of non-healthy diet, but who still moderately met physical activity criteria or consumed fruits and vegetables daily, had lower levels of body dissatisfaction.…”

Peculiarities of children's development during the transition age and the impact of this period of child development on the educational process

“…The second group of psychological problems is based on the unsatisfied need for love (Padial-Ruz et al, 2020). It is not necessarily that the parent does not love the child enough.…”