Lecture 1: Descriptive Approach Flashcards
(20 cards)
Key issues when we talk about the descriptive approach that you need to understand
- Why participate in physical activity?
2. Why drop out of physical activity?
Why do children take part?
- Fun & enjoyment
- Fitness & health
- learning skills
- friendships
- success
- appearance
Why do Men take part?
- recreation
- competition
- fitness
- personal development
Why do Women take part?
- recreation
- fitness
- enjoyment
- weight management
Why take part? - Across lifespan (based on a study)
- mental wellbeing importance increases with age
- body image/health importance increases with age
- competition decreases with age (more impt when you are young)
- fun & enjoyment maintains across the lifespan
- socialisation maintain but much lower than fun & enjoyment
To promote PA across the lifespan, it needs to be interesting to target the fun & enjoyment factor
Why do children cease participation?
- Conflicts of interest
- Lack of playing time
- Lack of fun
4, Limited improvement in skills - No success
- Boredom
- Injury
Barriers to PA
1. Physical 2, Emotional 3. Motivations 4. Time 5. Availability (facility)
Is time referring to real time or?
Time is a perceived lack of time and not real-time. Some may choose to use the time for other stuff such as shopping/studying/part-time job/socialisation
Does the belief system affect PA participation? (fixed belief or incremental belief)
e.g ‘I am not the sport type’
The belief system has a role to play in terms of PA participation. Some believe that (1) they are gifted or not gifted (fixed) OR (2) it is a skill that can be learnt (incremental)
Perceived Barriers to PA across the life span
- Lack of motivation - increases with age
- Perceived lack of time - increases with age but after 50 y/o it will drop as you start to have lesser commitments in life
- Injury/illness - increases with age; one of the reason but not very high as compared to others
- Bad weather - can influence people from taking part of not (not necessarily come with age)
What are the other barriers to PA participation?
- Physical (‘i don’t have the height for basketball’
- Emotional
- Motivation (Lack of motivation)
- Time (Perceived lack of time)
- Availability (facilities)
- Injury/illness
- Bad Weather
8 . Lack of exercise variety and enjoyment
9. Lack of positive feedback and reinforcement
10. Low perceived competence and frequent failure (thinking that you are not good)
11. Lack of affiliation (no friends inside)
12. Lack of thrills and excitement (may not be exciting for you)
13, Inflexible goals (goals that are hard/easy to attain)
What predicts adherence to such programmes?
- Personal factors (e.g., self‐motivation, BMI)
- Environmental factors (e.g., the proximity of the facility)
Correlates of PA:
These 6 factors altogether determine whether or not the participant will be willing to partake in the sport. You cannot just look at one.
- Socio-demographic
- Biological
- Psychological
- Behavioural
- Social
- Environmental
What is the SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC correlate?
It includes socio-economic status, gender and age.
International finding - anywhere also same:
- males and children report more PA than females and adolescents
- participation falls quite rapidly in the teenage years, more so for females
- lower childhood SES -> low-level PA in adulthood
What is the BIOLOGICAL correlate?
Typically have looked at fitness and body fatness.
- Weight status (BMI) has been shown to be negatively related to PA, but usually in a small way or, sometimes, rather inconsistently.
- Association in childhood:
If you are not active in childhood, you are less likely to be active in adulthood (but this could be due to other reasons such as social, as such you cannot draw a conclusion between the correlation of weight and PA level. Individual changes as they grow older, therefore it is inconclusive.
ALL IN ALL, it is not so easy to draw a conclusion with BMI and PA participation alone,as of current literature
What is the PSYCHOLOGICAL correlate?
Could include confidence and attitudes
- ‘perceived behavioural control’ is also associated with greater physical activity for adolescents
- that higher levels of perceived competence are associated with greater physical activity.
- ‘achievement orientation’ - positively associated with PA
- enjoyment - consistent predictor of PA
- body image - negatively associated with PA mostly for females
Most theory looks at perceived competence (“I think that I can achieve the results, I will be more likely to take part in the sport”)
What is the BEHAVIOURAL correlate?
Could include other behaviours associated with PA such as smoking or dieting
- healthy diet - associated with PA
- Sedentary behaviour during the after-school and weekend periods - more sedentary, less active (vice versa)
- Tracking (previous PA) from childhood into adolescence has a small‐to‐moderate relationship with physical activity. (e.g. When you are an active child, you will have a higher chance of being an active adult)
What is the SOCIAL correlate?
Include social support - different forms of parental, sibling and peer behaviour and support
E.g., emotional support in the form of encouragement, and instrumental support such as logistical and financial help
- Positive correlation. You tend to be more active if you have positive influence from parents to your friends as people around you..
What is the ENVIRONMENTAL correlate?
Include aspects of the built environment (e.g. provision of cycle paths) or the natural environment (e.g weather)
- School PA policy was also associated with greater activity
- Availability of recreation facilities in schools was related to higher physical activity levels
- Time inside – precipitated by busy roads, fear of crime and availability of attractive home‐based sedentary entertainment = almost certainly contributes to lower than optimal levels of physical activity (E.g pandemic like COVID-19 can result in a decrease of PA since more ppl are staying home, increasing chances of sedentary behaviour)
What are some strategies for enhanced adherence?
- Environmental (e.g., prompts, contracting)
- Reinforcement (e.g., rewards, feedback)
- Goal setting & cognitive approaches
- Decision-making approaches
- Social support approaches
