Physical Education as a Determinant of Adolescents’ Weekday Activity Behaviors

Authors

Jessica Pegg, University of North TexasFollow
Grant Dunn, University of North TexasFollow
Kevin Dames, State University of New York at CortlandFollow
Samantha Moss, University of North TexasFollow

Abstract

Physical education is a structured setting that facilitates physical activity and helps establish healthy habits in youth. Despite the recognized role of physical education and benefits of physical activity, Texas mandates only 1 credit (i.e., two semesters) of physical education across 4 years of high school (19 Texas Administrative Code §74.12(b)(6)(F)). PURPOSE: 1) Identify the amount of time adolescents spend in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior during physical education and weekdays, and 2) examine the predictive utilities of MVPA during physical education toward adolescents’ weekday MVPA and sedentary behavior. METHODS: The study recruited 50 students (32 males, 17 females, 1 did not report; M_age = 15.60 ± 1.24) from one high school in Texas. Participants were instructed to wear a GT3X+ accelerometer on their non-dominant hip for one week. When the device was worn for at least 3 valid days (i.e., at least 8 hours of wear-time per day), scores were retained for final analyses (n = 33). Physical activity intensities were analyzed using Freedson Child (2005) defined cut points for sedentary (0-149 CPM) and MVPA (500-7599 CPM). Pearson’s bivariate correlations and linear regression analyses (controlling for sex and BMI) were conducted. RESULTS: On average during a weekday, adolescents engaged in 99.85 ± 40.60 minutes of MVPA and 550.41 ± 121.89 minutes of sedentary behavior, of which 15.24 ± 11.00 minutes of MVPA (15.26%) and 30.55 ± 12.48 minutes of sedentary behavior (5.55%) occurred during their 50-minute physical education class. Physical education MVPA showed positive associations with weekday MVPA (r = .751, p < .001) and weekday sedentary behavior (r = .408, p < .05) while physical education sedentary behavior demonstrated negative associations with weekday MVPA (r = -.722, p < .01) and weekday sedentary behavior (r = -.411, p < .05). Regression results revealed physical education MVPA and physical education sedentary behavior jointly explained an additional 56.6% of variance in weekday MVPA (F(2,28) = 10.145, p < .001, R² = .592) with physical education MVPA approaching significance as an individual predictor (p = .058) with a small-to-moderate unique contribution (part r² = .057). Additionally, when examining weekday sedentary behavior predictors, the full model approached significance (F(2,28) = 2.540, p = .062, R² = .26, ∆R² = .168). CONCLUSION: Physical education plays a significant role in adolescents’ overall weekday activity patterns, particularly MVPA levels, suggesting that the structured time during the school day for physical education is a vital tool for healthy physical activity behaviors. Continued engagement in physical education throughout high school may be a practical strategy for promoting sustained physical activity and developing long-term healthy behaviors into adulthood.

Recommended Citation

Pegg, Jessica; Dunn, Grant; Dames, Kevin; and Moss, Samantha (2026) "Physical Education as a Determinant of Adolescents’ Weekday Activity Behaviors," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2: Iss. 18, Article 55.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss18/55