Fomento de estilos de vida activos en la escuela: práctica de actividad física, edad y género

The high physical inactivity that young students present makes it necessary to carry out studies that seek to know the reasons for this situation and seek proposals for its improvement. The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics that define high school students of a schools with a program (Sport Project Centre) to promote physical activity in Galicia in terms of physical activity, gender and age rate. The sample is composed of 1697 subjects (824 boys and 873 girls) and 2335 parents. “The International Questionnaire about Lifestyles in Students” was used as an instrument of data collection. The results suggest that 66.9% of students have a low or very low rate of physical activity (56% boys and 77.3% girls) and 33,1% as active or very active (44% boys and 22.7% girls). This study provides evidence that there are gender and age differences when when quantifying the number of hours of physical activity. In addition, there is a dissociation between the practice perception and what is actually realized. There is also a significant relationship between the practice of physical activity and gender, not being the same when analyzing the academic course.In conclusion, there is a high physical inactivity, especially in females, together with a lack of knowledge of this situation, both from the students and their parents.