Adolescent physical activity levels: the influence of high school physical education participation

Health policy experts recommend that adolescents engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. In California, fewer adolescents are reaching these guidelines, with declining activity levels as age increases. A higher prevalence of inactivity in addition to rising obesity rates prompts policy concern because of the increased risk of developing chronic health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which affect long-term health. There is a national policy debate occurring about the declining emphasis on physical education within schools, given evidence that it has the potential to improve exercise habits. From a California standpoint, my research explores whether more physical education participation causes increases in adolescent exercise behaviors, to determine why is there a declining emphasis on physical education, and to identify the primary policy and practical barriers to increasing time for high school students to spend in physical education. Using 2,799 adolescent observations from the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey, I conduct a regression analysis to quantify the influence of high school physical education participation on overall activity levels. Since many factors influence activity behaviors, which I cannot fully capture in a quantitative analysis, I also conduct nine interviews across state and local education entities to explore the policy and practical barriers to investing time into physical education. My regression results show that physical education participation does not influence the choice to exercise, but among adolescents who are at least somewhat active, it does influence the amount that they choose to engage in each day. Combined with my interview results, I confirm prior literature that the following socio-demographic and environmental factors influence adolescent activity levels: gender, age, income, neighborhood safety, access to activity opportunities after school, and education support of quality physical education. My results add to prior research, showing that having an athletic role model positively influences activity behaviors. Based on my findings, I recommend investing in an educational culture that values physical education as an instructional priority and in community partnerships to create more opportunities for adolescent activity outside of school hours. Ensuring that physical education is an instructional priority requires investing in both the quality and quantity of the program, creating more professional development opportunities, ensuring that facilities are adequate and physical education teachers hold the proper credentials to teach the standards-based curriculum. Based on findings that resource discrepancies pose greater barriers for schools serving a large proportion of low-income students, districts can effectively collaborate with community members to promote activity at the broader local level through use of required Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP) to ensure that their spending matches state priorities for students.