The Relationship between Students' Physical Self-Concept and Their Physical Activity Levels and Sedentary Behavior: The Role of Students' Motivation

Motivation for Physical Activity as a Key Determinant of Sedentary Behavior Among Postsecondary Students

It is known that the transition to adulthood represents a critical period of life when acquiring healthy behaviors can influence lifestyle and health throughout adulthood. Given the importance of the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, identifying influence factors is key to improving healthy behaviors. The objective of this study is to explore the role of postsecondary students' motivation toward physical activity in the association with their screen time and out-of-school physical activity practice. A total of 1522 postsecondary students (90% were aged 17-20 years) recruited from 17 postsecondary institutions completed the self-reported questionnaire during course time. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association between motivation to move including additional predictors of behavior such as intention and tendency to self-activate and self-reported screen time and physical activity controlling for age and sex. Motivation including all 3 motivational variables (interest, utility, competence) was negatively associated with screen time, b = -0.498 (95% CI between -0.635 and -0.361) and positively associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, b = 133.986, (95% CI between 102.129 and 165.843). Of the 3 motivational variables, interest had the strongest negative association with screen time, b = -0.434 (95% CI between -0.551 and -0.317), and the strongest positive association with physical activity, b = 113.671, (95% CI between 86.396 and 140.946). These findings indicate that the motivation of postsecondary students toward physical activity significantly influences their behaviors, including screen time and physical activity engagement.

Physical Activity as a Means to Improve Subjective Vitality of University Students

Purpose: This study compared physical self-concept and subjective vitality of police, physical education, and psychology students. Moreover, the study investigated whether students who reported a higher level of physical activity differently rated physical self-concept and subjective vitality and whether physical activity was associated with subjective vitality. Methods: The study sample included 422 university students (249 females) from three state academic institutions: University of Criminal Investigation and Police Studies (n = 165), Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (n = 156) and Faculty of Psychology (n = 101). The mean age was 20.85 ± 3.59 years. They completed a physical self-description questionnaire, the subjective vitality scale, and a physical activity questionnaire using the Survey Monkey platform. Multivariate analysis of variance investigated the differences in physical activity, physical self and vitality, while regression analysis investigated the association of physical self and physical activity with subjective vitality. Results: Police students and physical education students reported higher levels of physical activity and perceived higher their own physical self and subjective vitality than psychology students. From the whole sample, students who were sufficiently physically active also scored higher on physical self-concept and subjective vitality. There was a significant association of physical activity level with subjective vitality. Conclusion: Physical activity was directly associated with students' subjective evaluation of their own health. It can be concluded that students should aim to attain a minimum of 150 min per week of physical activity. Students and faculties should be involved in the attainment of minimal levels of physical activity. This could improve students' subjective perception of self, along with objective measures of health and wellbeing.

Motivation toward Physical Activity and Healthy Habits of Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Adolescence is a transformative period in which rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth takes place. Laying the foundation for healthy behaviors is paramount during these formative years. The aim of this review is to determine which countries are leading in research on adolescents’ motivation towards physical activity and healthy habits and their main findings. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA statement using the Web of Science and Scopus databases during the months of September to December 2022. The search terms used were: “Physical activity”, “Motivation” and “Adolescents”, in the following research areas: Education, Educational Research and Sport Sciences. A total of 5594 articles were identified, but only those that met the established criteria were included (32 articles). It is concluded that most of the research is led in Spain with 16 articles, followed by 3 in Chile, 2 in Portugal, 2 in Norway and the rest of the countries with 1. Likewise, most of the works include very similar aspects regarding the incidence of motivation towards the adherence to the practice of Physical Activity and healthy habits.

The association between sedentary behavioral characteristics and poor vision among Chinese children and adolescents

Introduction

To understand the features of sedentary behavior of Chinese children and adolescents and its relationship with poor visual acuity, a self-administered "Questionnaire on Sedentary Behavior of Children and Adolescents" was used to survey 4,203 students in grades 4-12 in six administrative regions of China.

Results

(1) The average time spent in sedentary behaviors (SB) of Chinese children and adolescents was about 8.1 h per day, of which the academic sedentary time was the longest, accounting for 79.2% of total sedentary time. The total time spent on SB and the time spent on studying SB were more in the upper grades and less in screen SB and cultural leisure SB, respectively. There were significant sex differences in total SB time (p < 0.05) and weekend sedentary behaviors time (SB-WD) (p < 0.01) among Chinese children and adolescents, with girls being more likely to be higher than boys. There were also significant differences in sedentary time across different regions (p < 0.05), and the longest total sedentary time in East China. (2) Reduction parents' sedentary time and limitation of sedentary behaviors and the use of electronics among children and adolescents can effectively reduce sedentary time among Chinese children and adolescents. (3) Sedentary time was significantly higher in children and adolescents with poor vision than in those with normal vision (p < 0.01), and study SB and screen SB were important independent factors affecting vision. (4) Timing of breaks in SB can play a positive role in promoting vision health.

Conclusion

There were significant grade, sex, and regional differences in the SB of Chinese children and adolescents, and sedentary time was strongly related to the prevalence of poor vision detection rate.

Negative Physical Self-Concept Is Associated to Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Negative Lifestyle and Poor Mental Health in Chilean Schoolchildren

Background: Evidence suggests that physical self-concept (PSC) is linked to well-being in children and adolescents. Objective: The objective was to investigate the association of PSC with mental health (i.e., depression and body image), physical status (i.e., fitness and weight status) and lifestyle (physical activity (PA) patterns and nutritional level) in Chilean schoolchildren. Methods: A total of 617 schoolchildren (n = 271 girls and n = 346 boys) aged 10−14 years participated in this study. Self-concept, depression and body image dissatisfaction were determined by questionnaires. Physical fitness, PA, screen time (ST), Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and anthropometric parameters were also included. Results: Poor PSC was linked to bad cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) (<42 VO2max) (OR 1.64; 95%CI 1.12−2.34; p = 0.01), severe body image dissatisfaction (OR 2.51, 95%CI 0.99−6.35; p = 0.05), ST of more than two hours a day (OR 2.1; 95%CI 1.41−3.12; p < 0.001), PA after school of no more than two hours per week (OR 1.52; 95%CI 1.08−2.13; p = 0.015) and depression (OR 1.80; 95%CI 1.1−2.92; p = 0.017). High nutritional level showed an association with general PSC and general self-concept (p < 0.05). Absence of body image dissatisfaction was related to general self-concept (p < 0.01) and physical condition dimensions (p < 0.05). Conclusions: PSC is associated with CRF, PA after school, ST and nutritional level. According to mental health variables, poor PSC is related to depression in Chilean schoolchildren. Therefore, promoting a healthy lifestyle among children should be a target of community- and school-based interventions to promote PSC.