Self-Efficacy and Participation in Vigorous Physical Activity by High School Students

The relationship between physical activity self-efficacy and participation in vigorous physical activity by high school students is examined in this article. Self-efficacy is hypothesized to be positively related to participation in three settings (physical education class, other school-related activities, and outside of school). The effects of age, gender, perceived barriers, and actual barriers are also examined. The sample consists of 1,041 grade 9 and 11 students from a large Metropolitan Toronto school board. Factors derived from a previous (factor) analysis were used to examine the effects of self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and life strain (an actual barrier). The results of multiple regression analysis indicate that physical activity self-efficacy, despite external barriers (but not internal barriers), is predictive of physical activity participation in the hypothesized direction. Other results show consistent age and gender effects on physical activity participation and some support for the hypothesized relationship between perceived barriers and participation.