Health-Related Fitness Knowledge and Physical Activity of High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if health-related fitness (HRF) knowledge is related to self-reported physical activity (PA) of high school students. Students (N=165) enrolled in physical education from two schools in the Southwestern U.S participated. A 100-point HRF knowledge test was assembled, focusing on the HRF concepts of cardiovascular endurance, muscular-fitness, body-composition, and flexibility, using the question bank from the Fitness-for-Life Teachers CD-ROM. Physical activity was assessed using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). The PAQ-A includes eight items scored on a five-point scale. The total activity score is the calculated mean of the eight items. One-way ANOVAs reported no significant difference by gender on HRF tests and PAQ-A scores. A Pearson correlation coefficient was generated to examine the strength of relationship between HRF test and PAQ-A scores. There was a moderate positive correlation between HRF test and PAQ-A scores (r(168) = .438, p < .001) This means that those who scored higher on the HRF test also tended to report being more physically active. As a secondary analysis students who reported scores rounding to 1-2 on the PAQ-A were categorized as low active (n = 50), scores rounding to 3 as moderately active (n = 73), and scores rounding to 4-5 as high active (n = 44). One-way ANOVA reported significant between group differences (F(2, 166) = 23.36, p < .001). Tukey’s post-hoc revealed significant HRF test score differences between the low active and moderately active groups, and low active and high active groups (p’s < .001), but not between the moderately active and high active groups (p = .352). Students who scored higher on the HRF test also reported higher levels of PA. These findings support the implementation and requirement of conceptually based fitness-for-life courses which may improve HRF knowledge and PA behavior.