Influencia del género y de los contenidos sobre la actividad física y la percepción de competencia en Educación Física

The assessment of psychological factors in adolescents, such as perceived competence, is important to develop strategies at school to increase physical activity levels in physical education classes and adhere to physical activity. The main objective of the study was to measure gender-related physical activity levels and perceived competence, and the physical education contents developed during the school year. A longitudinal study was conducted throughout one whole school year with twenty 1st year secondary school level students (12 boys and 8 girls). The physical activity levels were assessed via accelerometer and perceived competence via the PSDQ questionnaire (Marsh, Marco and Abcy, 2002). The results indicated that perceived competence and moderate to vigorous physical activity during physical education classes were higher for boys. It was also observed that physical activity levels vary depending on the contents studied. These levels were higher in the basketball unit with respect to other contents, both in males and females. Perceived competence only obtained significant differences depending on the contents in girls, with higher values in the jumping-rope unit. The differences found show the importance of the contextual level and highlight the need to implement student gender-adapted interventions to increase perceived competence and, therefore, adherence to out-of-school physical activity. Evaluar factores psicológicos en adolescentes, como la percepción de competencia, es importante para desarrollar estrategias en la escuela para incrementar los niveles de actividad física en las clases de educación física y la adherencia a la actividad física. El principal objetivo del estudio fue medir los niveles de actividad física y la percepción de competencia en relación con el género y los contenidos de la educación física desarrollados en un curso escolar. Se realizó un estudio longitudinal durante un curso escolar completo con 20 sujetos de 1º de la ESO (12 chicos y 8 chicas). Los niveles de actividad física se evaluaron mediante acelerometría y la percepción de competencia mediante el cuestionario PSDQ (Marsh, Marco y Abcy, 2002). Los resultados indicaron que la percepción de competencia y la actividad física moderada y vigorosa durante las clases de educación física fueron superiores para los chicos. También se observó que los niveles de actividad física varían en función de los contenidos estudiados siendo superiores en la unidad de baloncesto con res