Direct and indirect effects of multilevel factors on school-based physical activity among Japanese adolescent boys.docVIP

Vol.5, No.2, 245-252 (2013) Health /10.4236/health.2013.52033 Direct and indirect effects of multilevel factors on school-based physical activity among Japanese adolescent boys Li He , Kaori Ishii , Ai Shibata , Minoru Adachi , Keiko Nonoue , Koichiro Oka 1* 2 2 3 4,5 2 1 2 3 4 5 Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan; Corresponding Author: meethl@moegi.waseda.jp * Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan Graduate School of Education, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan Sonan Junior High School, Okayama, Japan Waseda Institute for Sport Sciences, Tokorozawa, Japan Received 26 October 2012; revised 25 November 2012; accepted 4 December 2012 ABSTRACT sical activity. Self-efficacy was indirectly related with physical activity through family support. BMI, equipment, and safety indirectly affected physical activity through self-efficacy and/or family support. Conclusion: Effects of multilevel factor on physical activity among adolescent boys differed according to context, which im- plies that interventions to promote physical ac- tivity should be context-specific. Findings en- courage the development of future effective in- terventions to promote physical activity through self-efficacy during lunch time as well as family support during after-school hours. Purpose: Background: Physical activity is a complex behavior which involves the interaction of multilevel factors at the individual, social and environmental level. However, previous studies have largely focused on psychological and/or social environmental factors and the direct im- pact of such factors on physical activity. There are few studies having examined how multilevel factors may interact to influence activity