Social Determinants Of Physical Education Essay

Social environment is the strongest predictor of physical activity (Stahl, Rutten, Nutbeam, & Kanna, 2002). Social influences on physical activity are strong for people of all ages, although the nature of support varies with the level of development. In adults, social support may come from friends, co-workers, family members, media, and schools. The main types of support include encouragement, participation in physical activities, and provision of assistance (Dishman & Sallis, 1994). For adolescents, peer influence plays a more important role, especially when an adolescent identifies with a particular peer group and joins physical activities that comprise the supportive environment created by the group for its members. Conversely, if the primary …show more content…
They proposed the following classification of the theoretical variables: (a) psychological, cognitive, and emotional factors (e.g., attitudes, barriers to exercise, control over exercise, enjoyment of exercise, and expected benefits); (b) demographic and biological variables (e.g., age, occupation, number of children, education, and the male gender); (c) behavioral attributes and skill (e.g., activity history during childhood/youth and adulthood, attitude towards alcohol, quality of dietary habits and contemporary exercise program); (d) sociocultural factors (e.g., exercise models, class size, group cohesion, physician influence, past family influences, and social support from friends/peers, spouse/family, and staff/instructor); (e) physical environment factors (e.g., access to facilities that include actual and/or perceived access, climate/season, costs of supervised programs, disruptions in routine, and presence of home equipment); and (f) characteristics of physical activity (that is, intensity and perceived effort). (Sallis & Owen,