Physical and sport education as a tool for development of a positive attitude toward health and physical activity in adulthood

Abstract

The study explains the importance and the role of physical and sport education in development of a positive attitude toward physical activity and health in adulthood. The empirical study was aimed at finding the factor that contributed to the transfer of respondents' physical activity into their adulthood with regard to their health status. The group of respondents comprised 742 middle-aged inhabitants of the districts in Southern Slovakia, including 403 women (age = 37.2 ± 3.04 years, height = 167.9 ± 3.2 cm, weight = 65.3 ± 6.8 kg) and 339 men (age = 36.5 ± 4.54 years, height = 179.6 ± 6.3 cm, weight = 89.1 ± 7.9 kg). Their selection was intentional. We conducted the study in three stages by means of the standardized questionnaire. The results significantly show (χ2 = 37.5297, p < 0.01) that the men enjoyed physical and sport education classes more (χ2 = 26.9684, p < 0.01) than the women (only 1/3). The men were also more active as far as physical and sport education is concerned (r = 0.8363). Physical and sport education contributed to the transfer of physical activity from school years to adulthood more significantly (χ2 = 112.47, p < 0.01) in the men (67.6 %; n = 229) than the women (33.7 %; n = 136). In this regard, the men also evaluated their present health status (r = 0.9139) and physical condition (r = 0.8300) better as compared to the women. The aforementioned findings prove that targeted education of population from childhood along with other effective preventive measures in health policy can approximate Slovakia to the developed European countries. These findings are partially included in the grant VEGA no. 1/0242/17 Physical activity as prevention of functional disorders related to the musculoskeletal system of secondaryschool students.