Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward School Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the potential determinants of male and female adolescents’ attitudes toward school physical education. Students ( N =488), randomly selected from four large metropolitan schools, were asked to comment on their school physical education experience from kindergarten through Grade 10. A systematic content analysis was used to categorize these responses. Three main questions were addressed: What factors in the K-10 physical education experience of male/female students contribute to the development of positive/negative attitudes toward physical education? Are these factors different for males and females? Are they different for students electing to take school physical education? Five main determinants of attitude were identified in ranked order: curriculum content, teacher behavior, class atmosphere, student self-perceptions, and facilities. Overall, male and female students identified the same determinants in the same order of priority.