Regular physical education class enhances sociality and physical fitness while reducing psychological problems in children of multicultural families

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of physical education class (PEC) as an intervention method for aggression, sociality, stress, and physical fitness levels in children from multicultural families. The hypothesis was that participating in PEC would result in reduced aggression and stress and improved sociality and physical fitness in multicultural children. A three-item questionnaire, a body composition test, and physical fitness tests were given three times. Eighty-four subjects were divided into four groups: multicultural children who participated in PEC (multi-PEG, n=12), multicultural children who did not participate in PEC (multi-NPEG, n=13), single-cultural children who participated in PEC (sing-PEG, n=11), and single-cultural children who did not participate in PEC (sing-NPEG, n=12), respectively. Parametric and nonparametric statistical methods were conducted on the collected data with a significance level set a priori at P<0.05. After 8 weeks of PEC, fat mass (F=2.966, P=0.045) and body mass index (F=3.654, P=0.021) had significantly different interaction effects. In the aspect of interaction effects from physical fitness variables, cardiopulmonary endurance (F=21.961, P=0.001), flexibility (F=8.892, P=0.001), muscular endurance (F=31.996, P=0.001), muscular strength (F=4.570, P=0.008), and power (F=24.479, P=0.001) were significantly improved in the multi-PEG compared to those of the other three groups. Moreover, sociality (F=22.144, P=0.001) in the multi-PEG was enhanced, whereas aggression (F=6.745, P=0.001) and stress (F=3.242, P=0.033) levels were reduced. As conclusion, the PEC reduced aggression and stress levels, and improved sociality and physical fitness levels after 8 weeks. This study confirmed that PEC for children from multicultural families can improve psychosocial factors and physical health.

Promoting health-related cardiorespiratory fitness in physical education: A systematic review

“…This separation enabled some differences in findings between younger and older students to be found. While for older ages PE seems to be less effective in promoting students' CRF [14,22,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36], for younger ages almost all studies suggested that PE classes improved the students' CRF [13,[21][22][23][24]. From a physiologic standpoint, CRF naturally increases as children grow-up.…”

“…Therefore, PE teachers have several quality tools to assess the students' CRF. Notwithstanding, evidence regarding the contribution of PE classes for the development of CRF in children and adolescents is inconsistent [13,14] and most studies examine school-based physical activity intervention programs [15] instead of curricular PE.…”

Effect of playing soccer on stress, sociality, and physical fitness in alienated youth: a retrospective study

“…During childhood, the opportunities to develop social skills can greatly influence their ability to build positive relationships with their peers as they grow older. Therefore, it needs to be determined whether a child is being alienated from a peer group or is the one bullying others (Park et al, 2017). The source of the problem also needs to be understood by determining if it is related to the lack of social support or related to stress.…”

“…Proper formation of relationships within the peer group has a great influence on the cognitive or emotional development process (Schwartz and Proctor, 2000). For youngsters, parents are an important part of the family, but in order to grow as a member of society, peers cannot be overlooked (Park et al, 2017). During this period when relationships with peers are formed on the basis of trust, students can experience hardships from being alienated by their peers.…”

“…Interpersonal relationship stress, which is similar to the stress experienced through bullying, starts off with parents and family being the main subjects, then after reaching school age, can occur in students who begin to form relationships with peers and teachers (Park et al, 2017). In many cases, such stress has a negative influence, and may even have a critical influence on growth and development (Baldwin et al, 2016).…”