Video Technology and the Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioral Control, and Attitudes Toward Physical Activity of Middle School Students: Does P.E.TV make a difference?

Abstract

This study examined the effects of

Physical Education Television

(P.E.TV) on 69 southwest Virginia

middle school students' subjective

norm, perceived behavioral control,

and attitudes toward physical

activity. Four intact 8th grade

physical education/health classes

were selected for the study. The

students were randomly assigned to

the classes by school administrators

at the beginning of the school year.

The classes were randomly

assigned to treatment and control

groups. The treatment group (two

8th grade classes) viewed 10

P.E.TV shows over a period of nine

weeks. The control group (two 8th

grade classes) had physical

education/health class as normal.

The same teacher taught all four

classes.

A pre-test post-test design was

used. All students filled out a

pre-test questionnaire at the

beginning of the 9 weeks, and a

post-test questionnaire at the end of

the 9 weeks. The pre and post-test

questionnaires included the

"Children's Attitudes Toward

Physical Activity" scale to assess

the student's attitudes, and

questions developed by Fishbein

and Ajzen (1980, 1985) to assess

subjective norm and perceived

behavioral control. The pre-test

questionnaire also included the

"Weekly Activity Checklist", which

was used to categorize students into

groups based on their activity level.

The first three hypotheses stated

that P.E.TV would have a positive

influence on the students' subjective

norm, perceived behavioral control,

and attitudes toward physical

activity. These hypotheses were

tested using Analysis of Covariance,

and rejected at the .05 level of

significance. The fourth hypothesis

stated that P.E.TV would have

more of a positive influence on

students categorized as "moderate

to low active" than on students

categorized as "high active". This

attribute-treatment-interaction

hypothesis was tested using a two

way Analysis of Variance, and was

also rejected at the .05. level.

Suggestions for future studies are

included in the discussion section.