Physical Activity and Physical Activity Self-Efficacy of Adolescent Students: The Field-level Study in India and Fiji

Participation in physical activity (PA) builds self-efficacy required for adolescent development. This study investigates the extent of physical activity among the adolescent students and its influence on their physical activity self-efficacy (PSE) in two developing societies, India and Fiji. The PA level has been derived from responses on the time uses of 873 high school adolescent students studying at year 10 from 16 selected rural and urban schools. An index of PSE has been prepared using the sample responses and then following Cronbach's alpha of reliability test and method of principal component analysis (PCA). Finally, ANOVA and regression techniques have been applied to find statistical relationships. It is observed that almost 62% sample adolescent students are engaged in the lowest level of PA (0-1.4 hours per day) and 23% spend even less than 30 minutes. The PA level and its self-efficacy of female adolescent students are substantially lower than those of boys. Further, the statistical results suggest that PA definitely improves PSE, but at a decreasing rate.