Relationship of Enjoyment, Perceived Competence, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness to Physical Activity Levels of Elementary School Children

Abstract

Because of the continued increase in obesity rates and decrease in children's physical activity and fitness levels, this study investigated the relationship between habitual physical activity and perceived competence, enjoyment of physical activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness among upper elementary school children. This study used the FitnessGram PACER test to measure children's cardiorespiratory fitness , the Children's Physical Activity Correlates (CPAC) to measure perceived competence and enjoyment of physical activity, and the Physical Activity Questionnaire-Children (PAQ-C) to measure habitual physical activity. Results of a forced-entry multiple regression demonstrated that each predictor variable significantly predicted physical activity. The results of bivariate correlations also exhibited significant results. Enjoyment, perceived competence, and cardiorespi-ratory fitness were positively correlated with physical activity. These results support previous research and have many implications on