Exercise gymnasiums equipped for adults, are not really beneficial for the physical development
of young children in South-Africa, considering that these children are not allowed, due to the risk
of being injured, to exercise freely in such gymnasiums. Staff working at gymnasiums in South-Africa are also not necessarily trained to meet the complex exercise and developmental needs of
children. This can cause a negative attitude in children toward physical activity, which can
attribute to a sedentary lifestyle and the risks associated therewith.
The aims of this study was firstly to determine if the physical activity (PA) levels and physical
fitness (PF) of children between the ages of 6 and 13 years will improve as a result of
participation in a 5 months (1-4 times/week) health enhancing kinderkinetics program in a
gymnasium equipped for adults. The second and third aims of this study were to determine the
role of exercise frequency and gender in the self-perception of these children.
Data was firstly analysed by means of "Statistica 7 (STAT 06)" for descriptive purposes (means,
standard deviation, maximum and minimum values). For analytical purposes, a covariant
analysis was done. From this the Partial Eta-Square (Eta2) of the interaction was calculated, and
the results were used as a guideline to further analyse the differences. The adapted mean
differences of all the PF and self-perception variables between the pre- and post-test of the
different frequency groups were determined after adjusting for pre-test differences, gender,
physical activity and age.
Twenty subjects between the ages of 6- and 13-years (11 girls and 9 boys), whose parents were
members of an exercise gymnasium in Potchefstroom and who consented for them to participate,
took part in the study. The physical fitness levels were evaluated by means of the
"FITNESSGRAM" (Meridith & Welk, 1999) and the physical activity levels by means of a physical
activity questionnaire (Rowland, 1990). The Harter scale (Harter, 1985), consisting of 6
subscales was used to determine the self-perception of the children.
With regard to the first aim of the study, the results indicated that participation in the program
improved PA levels and PF with regards to BMI, sit-ups, push-ups, left and right hip flexibility and trunk flexibility (p<0.05), and that the program can also be beneficial to inactive or
overweight children, even if they only exercise once or twice a week.
With regard to the second aim of the study the results indicated that a more regular participation
in the program had a significant positive effect on the athletic and scholastic components of
self-perception, whereas the physical and behavioural components improved the most in the
group who exercised only 1-2 times a week. With regard to the third aim of the study the
program showed a positive effect on the self-perception of both boys and girls although the
effect was different on the various components of self-concept.
It can be concluded from the results that participation in such a health enhancing program can
benefit children's physical fitness and self-concept and can also contribute to higher physical
activity levels. This study should however be seen as a pilot study due to certain limitations and
similar studies are therefore recommended to confirm the results / Thesis (M.A. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4027 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Le Roux, Vicky |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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