Actividade físico-desportivas, autoconceito e aproveitamento escolar em adolescentes portugueses

The purpose of this investigation was to study the relations between of physical activity/sports, self-concept and school performance, among youngsters between 12 and 19 years of age. Comparisons were also made taking into consideration the recommendations of physical exercise (American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association. The sample consisted of 624 individuals (268 males, 354 females and 2 unclassified by sex). Self-concept was measured with the Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II) translated and validated for Portuguese by Goncalves e Vasconcelos-Raposo. Academic achievement/ school performance was defined based on the number of times the individuals failed. The results showed that there are positive relationships between physical activity and several dimensions of the self-concept and a negative correlations between level of physical activity and academic achievement.