Do They Need Goals or Support? A Report from a Goal-Setting Intervention Using Physical Activity Monitors in Youth

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA) and different goal setting and strategies in youth. The study took into consideration different sources of support as well as gender variations. Classmate and Teacher Support scales were used to evaluate support in physical education (PE) classes, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was reported. Garmin Vivofit® activity trackers were used during an 8 week-long intervention to count daily steps. Data was collected from 65 adolescents (mean age 17.2 ± 0.2), 74 young adolescents (mean age 15.3 ± 0.2) and 57 children (mean age 11.5 ± 0.4). An experimental design was employed, with “goal” and “do your best” groups given different step goal strategies. The results show that both groups achieved a comparable number of steps. Two-way ANOVA showed interactional effects between gender and teacher support. There were no such effects for MVPA and number of steps. Although classmate support in PE was reported to be reasonably high, the findings show that it does not play a significant role in increasing MVPA behaviors in youths. However, the problem of significantly lower support given to adolescent girls by PE teachers should be embedded into the teaching context of PE students and counteracted in school setting realities.

Relationship between body composition and selected motor components in 17-year-old adolescents residing in the city of Poznań in Poland

“…Overall, a possible explanation of those correlations could be the nature of the physical education's core curriculum, which may reflect the type and variety of activities typically undertaken by adolescents in classes conducted separately for girls and boys. Similar trends were observed in an earlier study on Polish adolescents [3], where it was also found that for the long-term effects of school-based physical activity young people need to develop a sense of coherence and self-responsibility. Also, Kantanista et al [14] found a correlation between effectiveness of school-based interventions increasing the volume of activities (including in out-of-school leisure time) and biological and psychological characteristics of Polish adolescents.…”

“…Data for this study were obtained from the "Active not only online" project supported by a Grant Study, Akademickie Centrum Kreatywności (Academic Center of Creativity, no MNiSW/2014/DIR/612/ACK) by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, that was started in 2015 to conduct a goal setting intervention using PA monitors in youth residing in the city of Poznan in Poland. More information on the setting and study design has been provided elsewhere [3].…”

The level of moral competences of pre-service PE teachers – a reason to worry?

“…Scholars have studied the issue in the general educational setting and how this interferes with the effectiveness of sport education [25], as well as in physical activity (PA) contexts [40,22]. The findings are equivocal -some studies suggest that PA and pro-social behaviour in pupils improves as a result of engagement in PE and sport [8], even more so when receiving support from PE teachers [9], while in some circumstances behaviour actually worsens [4]. Bailey et al [3] claim that school PE and sport has the potential to contribute to the whole development of young people in 4 domains -physical, social, affective and cognitive -though in the case of social and cognitive effects benefits are mediated by environmental and contextual factors.…”

Using Novel Technology within a School-Based Setting to Increase Physical Activity: A Pilot Study in School-Age Children from a Low-Income, Urban Community

“…In this small study, they successfully increased MVPA by 25% from baseline [ 19 ]. To our knowledge, only one other study has used physical activity monitors in the context of a school-based physical activity intervention [ 20 ]. Whereas the study was well executed, it was designed to evaluate how different types of activity goals affect achievement and whether peer or teacher support mediates activity behaviors.…”