Exploring the physical activity of secondary school students in Hong Kong by application of the theory of planned behaviour

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2013

Keywords

Health promotion, Physical activity, Theory of planned behaviour, Secondary school students, Education, Statistical analysis

Abstract

According to World Health Organization (2010), inadequate physical activities ranked the fourth leading cause of global mortality. Diseases caused by lacking physical activity contributed to 6% of global mortality rate. Adequate physical activity is particular important for students. Habits developed in early stage are rooted and more likely maintained throughout the rest of life. According to the survey of Department of Health (Centre for Health Protection, 2010), it revealed that majority of population did not have enough physical activity, there was over 60% of Hong Kong citizens (aged from 18 – 84) could not fulfil the requirements of regular physical activity. In addition, secondary school students in Hong Kong were reported lacking of physical activity (Mok & Ko, 2012). Excluding physical education lessons in school, there were nearly 70 % of children and adolescents did not have adequate amount of physical activity to bring health benefits (Central Health Education Unit, 2005). In present study, the aim was to predict the physical activity intention and behaviour of secondary school students in Hong Kong by application of Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB). By doing data analysis, the root TPB variables restraining students from doing physical activity were explored. In this case study, 486 students (250 male and 236 female), ranging in age from 11 to 18 years, were enrolled. By means of self-administrated questionnaire, TPB variables were measured. All three TPB variables, Attitude (A), Subjective Norm (SN) and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) had significant associations with physical activity, but PBC gave the strongest influence. The TPB variables explained 53.1% of physical activity intention with significant factors of SN and PBC. When predicting physical activity behaviour, TPB variables accounted for 26.6% of the variance. Results of this study are in line with other research and give evidence that TPB is a useful framework for the prediction of physical activity intention of secondary school students in Hong Kong.

Source Publication

The 7th International Symposium on Advances in Technology Education, 2013 Sep 25-27, Nara Prefectural New Public Hall, Nara, Japan

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