The effect of gender environment on Social Physique Anxiety in 7th grade
females
Steven Prewitt, M.S., James C. Hannon, PhD., Tim Brusseau, PhD, & Maria Newton, PhD
Introduction• Title IX (1972)• Coed Physical education• Unforeseen issues• Participation
– Self-presentation
(Hannon & Williams, 2008; Kruisselbrink, Dodge, Swanburg, & McLeod, 2004; Jackson et al., 2013; Whitehead & Biddle, 2008)
Self-Presentation in Coed PE
• Social Physique Anxiety– Perception of others’
opinion of our body– “Feel on display”– in coed settings
(Davison, Werder, Trost, Baker, & Birch, 2007 Hart, Leary, & Rejeski, 1989; Jackson, et al., 2013; James, 2000)
Physique AnxietyAuthors Participants Results
Kruisselbrink et al., (2004)
Adult females (n=61) SPA scores in all-male & mixed environment vs. all-female
Olafson (2002) Interviews and focus groups of middle school girls.
"Everyone's always watching“"Are my legs flopping?“"Do I look funny?"
Osbourne, Bauer, & Sutliff (2002)
12 middle schoolers (girls=6) “I know a lot of girls feel kind of uncomfortable about it” – female student
Significance• Limited literature• Few studies; mostly qualitative • None with purposed activity
Purpose
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine changes in SPA of adolescent females in single gender and coed physical education classes during a circuit training unit.
Hypothesis - Girls within a single gender environment will demonstrate a significant decrease in SPA scores compared to their counterparts in a coed class.
Participants• 42 7th grade females from a local Jr. High School
– 1 class of single gender (n=20)– 1 class of coed (n=22)
Coed Group (n=22)
Single Gender Group (n=20)
Age (years) 12.41 ± 0.50 12.40 ± 0.50
Height (inches) 61.96 ± 2.96 62.0 ± 2.67
Weight (lbs.) 113.63 ± 33.55 111.45 ± 16.66
Instrument• Social Physique Anxiety Scale
– Five point Likert-type Scale • (1= not at all, 5= extremely)
• Recommended for adolescents (Smith, 2004)• Highly reliable
- Test-retest (r=0.89)- Internal consistency (α = 0.87)
(Martin, Rejeski, Leary, McAuley, & Bane, 1997)
Protocol
• Week 1 – Pretest• Weeks 2 - 4 – Intervention
– 2 classes for 3 weeks (6 sessions)• 8 stations• 45 seconds/15 seconds• Repeated cycle 4 times
• Week 5 – Post test
Statistical Analysis• 2 x 2 (group x time) repeated measures
ANOVA• Significance set at 0.05
ResultsCoed Group
(n=24)Single Gender Group
(n=20)Pretest Post-test Pretest Post-test
SPA 21.54 ± 8.51* 23.23 ± 10.11 27.70 ± 7.17 25.00 ± 6.49 **
* F(1,41)=6.582, p=0.014 ** Λ=0.895, F(1, 39)=4.56, p=0.039
SPA Results
Pre-Test Post-Test9
14
19
24
29
34
39
44
Changes in SPA scores
Single
Coed
SPA
Ave
rage
Sco
re
Discussion• SPA changes SG ( 9.75%) vs. Coed ( 8.3%)
• Results did not support original hypothesis
• Trend supports original concept
• Possible explanation
– Differing effects of SPA
Limitations
• Length of intervention• Small sample
(Scott et al, 2009)
Conclusion• Purpose was to examine SPA changes• Current study
– SPA following single gender experience• Application
– Traditional PE is coed– Gender separate activities
• Fills gap in literature
Questions?
Thank You!
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