Psychosocial factors influencing participation in physical activity of Maltese Year 6 children

Abstract

Rates of obesity in Maltese children are among the highest in the world and inactivity and sedentary lifestyles might be important causes of this epidemic. Recent research by Decelis on a sample of Maltese 11 year olds has shown very low activity levels, which suggests the need to establish the reasons for such low activity levels. Therefore the aim of this dissertation was to study the psychosocial factors leading to physical activity or lack of it in Maltese 10-11 year olds. Open-ended questionnaires were used in preparation for a closed-ended one, which aimed at establishing the advantages and disadvantages of participating in physical activity as perceived by the students, the persons who encourage or discourage them to take part in sport and the facilitators and barriers children find to be active daily. A sample of 223 students, from ten schools in five regions in Malta were taken for this study. From the whole sample, 189 students (84.8%) claimed to be active for at least 60 minutes a day, 42.33% were girls and 57.57% boys. The main advantage children perceived by children for being active daily was to be healthy, whilst feeling tired was the main salient disadvantage. Parents are the people who mostly encourage the students to participate in sports activities and the fact that they can drive them around to sports facilities was the main facilitator. The main barrier for children’s activity was excessive homework. Establishing these factors is an important step in planning specific interventions for this age group and to attempt to reduce the risk of various inactivity-related diseases and the prevalence of obesity in Maltese children.