Changes in psychosocial adjustment of adolescent girls in the lessons of physical education

Abstract

Objective. The aim of the present study was to establish the changes in psychosocial adjustment of adolescent girls in the modified lessons of physical education. Material and Methods. An experimental design was used in the study. The experimental group included 14- to 15-year-old adolescent girls (n=128), and the control group comprised adolescent girls of the same school and the same age (n=137). The girls of the experimental group participated in modified physical education lessons. Once a month, they had a theory class where they received knowledge on communication disorders among adolescents and ways of preventing them by means of physical activities. In practical classes, the girls of the experimental group had sports games (basketball, volleyball, and football), enhancing physical abilities, and Pilates exercises. For the estimation of the level of adolescents" psychosocial adjustment and its components (self-esteem and domination), an adapted questionnaire developed by Rogers and Dymond was applied. An adapted questionnaire developed by Huebner was administered to measure students" satisfaction with life. Results. The analysis of the data demonstrated that when comparing the psychosocial adjustment of the adolescent girls in the experimental group before and after the experiment, a significant differences in the score of the psychosocial adjustment scale was established (53.81±8.34 vs. 59.41±7.66, P<0.05). After the experiment, high life satisfaction was reported by 42.19% of the girls (P<0.05). Conclusions. After the educational experiment, the index of the psychosocial adjustment scale in the experimental group improved statistically significantly.