Gender gap in Social Enviroment of Leisure-time Physical Activity of University Students in Southwest Geo-political Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Leisure-Time Physical Activity (LTPA) has been identified as key to individual and community development. Despite its enormous benefits, LTPA has continued to decline among people of all ages in Nigeria. A review of literature indicated that more than half of university students in Nigeria are inactive. Research evidence has confirmed that males are more active than females. The objective of this study was to investigate gender related social environmental differences of LTPA of university students in South-west Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. For this study the descriptive survey was used. All the students in public-owned universities in South-west Geo-Political Zone were used for the study. The study used multistage sampling technique. The sample size for the study was 2,867 which is 10 % of male and female students in semi-final and final classes in the universities selected for the study. A self-constructed instrument tagged, 'Leisure Activity Questionnaire (LAQ)' was used to collect data. The instrument for the study was subjected to pilot testing during which it was administered twice within two weeks. The reliability of the instrument was carried out using Cronbach's Alpha statistics. The data collected from respondents were analyzed using inferential statistics (t-test) to test the hypothesis formulated for the study. The results showed that there was significant gender related differences in social environmental attributes of LTPA of male and female university students in South-west Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR