What matters when children play: Influence of Social Cognitive Theory and perceived environment on levels of physical activity among elementary-aged youth

Abstract

Objectives Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) has often been used as a guide to predict and modify physical activity (PA) behavior. We assessed the ability of commonly investigated SCT variables and perceived school environment variables to predict PA among elementary students. We also examined differences in influences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. Design This analysis used baseline data collected from eight schools who participated in a four-year study of a combined school-day curriculum and environmental intervention. Methods Data were collected from 393 students. A 3-step linear regression was used to measure associations between PA level, SCT variables (self-efficacy, social support, enjoyment), and perceived environment variables (schoolyard structures, condition, equipment/supervision). Logistic regression assessed associations between variables and whether students met PA recommendations. Results School and sex explained 6% of the moderate-to-vigorous PA models' variation. SCT variables explained an additional 15% of the models' variation, with much of the model's predictive ability coming from self-efficacy and social support. Sex was more strongly associated with PA level among Hispanic students, while self-efficacy was more strongly associated among non-Hispanic students. Perceived environment variables contributed little to the models. Conclusions Our findings add to the literature on the influences of PA among elementary-aged students. The differences seen in the influence of sex and self-efficacy among non-Hispanic and Hispanic students suggests these are areas where PA interventions could be tailored to improve efficacy. Additional research is needed to understand if different measures of perceived environment or perceptions at different ages may better predict PA.

Replacing Self-Efficacy in Physical Activity: Unconscious Intervention of the AR Game, Pokémon GO

“…Many studies show self-efficacy to be important for increasing physical activity [29,39,44,45]. However, previous research has failed to provide more realistic accounts of how the gamification of health behavior would attract and change the behaviors of people with problematic health behaviors in the perspective of playing a game [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. If the purpose is not for exercise, but to enjoy a game, people's physical activity will increase despite a lack of intention.…”

“…Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in the ability of individuals to successfully perform the actions needed to achieve the desired outcome [50]. The greater is a person's self-efficacy about physical activity, the more physically active he or she is likely to be [14,16,20,39,44,45]. Marcus et al (1992) developed a questionnaire to measure an individual's level of physical activity self-efficacy [51], and Wallace et al (2000) used that questionnaire to see how well self-efficacy predicts physical activity levels of college students [52].…”

“…Although these studies suggest that the main motivation for using these applications is the desire to improve one's studies suggest that the main motivation for using these applications is the desire to improve one's health [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], it seems unrealistic that people who are not inclined to exercise and improve their health would actually use these applications or benefit from them in the way described in these studies. Moreover, some studies show that the app intervention does not have a significant effect on increasing the intensity level of physical activity [13,21].…”

“…Moreover, some studies show that the app intervention does not have a significant effect on increasing the intensity level of physical activity [13,21]. However, previous studies on the gamification of health behaviors neglected the fact that people who are not motivated to exercise would be unlikely to use health and fitness applications, even gamified versions, when the sole benefit of using them is to increase exercise level [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Children Activities in Public Housing

“…It will result in less outdoor activities of the children and become more prone to several health issues. When they are not trained to be physically active, not only the health issues will become the problem but it will cause a problem in their social development (Boldemann et al, 2011;Carver, Timperio, & Crawford, 2008;Harmon et al, 2014;van Loon, Frank, Nettlefold, & Naylor, 2014).…”