Perception of primary school children about the playful and sport practice

Abstract

The study of the perceptions of physical activity is a topic with great interest at present, and can help to implement a change to an active lifestyle of schoolchildren. The objective of this study was to establish the perception of physical activity (play and sport) by students of primary school education by their classmates at school and at leisure active play and sport practice. The sample consists of 1009 children of elementary school (boys=50.3% 507; girls=49.7%); with the age average = 10.85, SD = 0.79. They were studying in schools in the provinces of Lugo, A Coruña, Ourense and Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain). We found a directly proportional association between gender and the perception that schoolchildren have about the leisure play and sports of their peers (p<0.001), as well as a directly proportional relationship between gender and the perception of practice of active play involvement at school, and there is a significant association with gender (p<0.001). Girls perceive that their classmates of the opposite sex practice more physical activity than they do both in their leisure time and at school. Regarding age ranges, there are no differences in the perception of physical activity practice.