A Comparative Study of Difference In Enjoyment Between Children Engaged In Water and Land Based Activity

Physical activity participation provides physical and mental health benefits to young people. Many authors have underscored the importance of regular physical activity throughout an individual's lifespan. An appropriate amount (quantity, quality, and intensity) of exercise has been found to lead to relevant physiological and psychological benefits. There is, however, concern over the participation levels of young people and the links with the rise in obesity rates in particular. Several nations are making efforts in promoting regular physical activity to improve health and behavioral outcomes of young people. Different national and cross-national programs, such as "Healthy People 2010" in the USA, acknowledged that physical activity is a major concern In India; young people are also demonstrating higher levels of exercise passivity. Studies have indicated that childhood and adolescence are important periods for adopting physically active lifestyle later in adulthood. One of the main causes of the decreasing amount of participation in sport and physical activity is low levels of motivation. Therefore, a number of authors have emphasized the need for early interventions to promote a positive attitude toward physical activity. The purpose of the study was to compare the difference in enjoyment between children engage in water and land based activity

METHODS

The participants of the study were 154 children, aged between 13 to116. Out of them 74 were from water based activity and 80 of them were from land based activity. Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES, an 18-item, self-administered scale developed by Kendzierski and DeCarlo), was used to assess enjoyment toward physical activity. Respondents were asked to rate their current feelings about physical activity using a seven-point semantic differential approach. As done in the original development of the scale, the scale was analyzed as a Likert scale. A total scale score was computed by summing responses to all items after recoding some items so that a high score indicated high enjoyment, whereas a low score indicated little enjoyment. The analysis of data was realized using the statistical program SPSS v 17. For descriptive statistics the independent‘t’ test was used at 0.05 level of significance.

The data were collected and analyzed in order to draw a conclusion on the physical activity enjoyment level of children, and the scores are given below. The mean and SD of the two groups of children involved in land based and water based activity have been presented in Table 1. The mean and standard deviation of the physical activity enjoyment level of children involved in water based activity and land based activity were 106.41 + 11.00 and 93.11 + 22.04 respectively. Among 154 subjects 80 subjects were from land based activity and 74 were from water based activity. The mean scores of the children involved in land based and water based activity physically challenged has been represented graphically in figure no 1. Independent samples t-tests were conducted for the means enjoyment of children involved in land based and water based activity. Results have been shown in Table 2. The independent t test has shown a significant difference in the physical activity enjoyment level between the children involved in land based and water based activity, as the p = 0.000 < 0.05.

The study reveals that the children who were engaged in water based activity enjoy significantly higher than the children engaged in land based activity. Probably because of the hot environment in the summers and water give them cooling and soothing effect. It might also

REFERENCES

Andersen, L. B., M. Harro, L. B Sardinha, K. Froberg, U. Ekelund, S. Brage, and S.A. Anderssen. 2006. Physical activity and clustered cardiovascular risk in children: a cross-sectional study (The European Youth Heart Study). Lancet 368: 299-304. Biddle, S.J.H., J. Sallis, and N. Cavill, eds. 1998. Young and active? Young people and health-enhancing physical activity – evidence and implications. London: Health Education Authority. Harter, S. 1978. Effectance motivation reconsidered: Toward a developmental model. Human Development 21: 34-64. ISTAT, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. (2003). Indagine multiscopo sulla famiglie. "Aspetti della vita quotidiana". Dicembre 2001-Marzo 2002. Available fromhttp://www.istat.it Scanlan, T.K., and J.P. Simons. 1992. The construct of sport enjoyment. In Motivation in sport and exercise, ed. G.C. Roberts, 199-215. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Telama, R., and X. Yang. 2000. Decline of physical activity from youth to young adulthood in Finland. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 32: 1617-1622.