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An important national health goal is to decrease the rate of sedentary living among Americans. Current baseline data suggest that 40% of those 18 and over do no regular leisure physical activity. Many studies suggest that there is a low to moderate relationship among youth activity and sedentary living. Some believe that getting the physical activity patterns of youth to “track” to adulthood could be the solution to reducing adult sedentary living. However, because activity generally decreases with age, a more important goal is to “untrack” activity. Specifically, steps must be taken in adolescence to help teens get “untracked” from their ever-decreasing activity levels. To accomplish this we must teach activities that will “track” to adulthood and teach self-management skills that can lead to a lifetime of active living.

Male and female subjects (N = 80), ranging in age from 17 to 25 years, participated in a study designed to determine if the sex of the sex of the subject, the sex of the subject's opponent, or the perceived ability of the subject's opponent, (good vs. poor ability) affected subjects' self confidence after competing at a task (TV Pong Game) of “neutral” sex orientation. a 2 x 2 x 2 mixed factorial design, with 10 subjects assigned to each cell, was used. All subjects competed in five games against a confederate and in all cases subjects lost all but the second of the five games. Data were treated using an ANCOVA, with preperformance confidence being used as the covariate. Ragardless of sex of the opponent, females expressed postperformance confidence levels equal to males after performing against an opponent thought to be poor in ability, but they were significantly less cofident after performing against opponents perceived to be good in ability. These findings are consistent with those of Argote, Fisher, McDonald, and O'Neal (1976), who note that the performance expectations of females tend to be unstable and change with single encounters, whereas males are less likely to allow one failure to affect performance assessments.

In recent years evidence has accumulated to document the importance of physical activity to lifelong health and fitness. This paper is based on the assumption that a primary goal of physical education is to promote lifetime physical activity. Common misconceptions are described and alternatives for change are proposed: (a) recognizing the unique physical activity needs of youth; (b) promoting opportunities for girls; (c) changing our focus from fitness to physical activity; (d) promoting self-esteem and feelings of competence among youth; (e) narrowing the scope of our objectives; and (f) emphasizing self-management skills in high school to help youth adopt active living as adults. The suggestions are based on scientific evidence and the author’s own experience.

Elementary school children, 20 boys and 20 girls, served as subjects in this investigation designed to determine how children sex-typed each of three different motor activities and to study their success predictions before and after cross-sex competition. Results of the study indicated that both boys and girls sex-typed a motor task requiring strength, speed, and power as a “male” activity, while the two other motor tasks were characterized as “male-female.” The self-confidence levels of girls, as measured by success predictions were lower than boys prior to competition but only for the “male” activity. After cross-sex competition in which girls succeeded as often as the boys, self-confidence of girls was no different than for boys. There were no sex differences in postcompetition state anxiety levels. All subjects regardless of sex were more threatened after competing in a “male” as opposed to a “male-female” activity, and they experienced lower state anxiety following successful rather than unsuccessful competition.

Research has suggested that females lack self-confidence in their abilities to perform in certain physical activity situations. This "situational vulnerability," however, is not characteristic of all age levels. The present research was designed to determine if situational vulnerability was characteristic of college-age females and to determine if postperformance feedback would enhance self-confidence. Further, the research was designed to determine if feedback-enhanced self-confidence would generalize to a different task. In Study 1, males and females (N=381) rated the gender appropriateness of several motor tasks and made confidence ratings. In Study 2, high and low confidence college-age women (N=69) were tested to determine if feedback increased confidence on a gender-neutral task.. Subjects were then tested for confidence after performing a different task to determine if feedback-produced confidence differences were enduring. The results indicated that both tasks were rated as gender-neutral, but college-age females lacked confidence when compared to males. Feedback did improve confidence for low confidence females, but this feedback-enhanced self-confidence did not generalize to a different motor task. It is suggested that a fourth factor, namely lack of experience, be added to Lenney's (1977) situational vulnerability hypothesis as a factor likely to affect female self-confidence.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that would permit the application of recent advances in self-esteem theory to the study of self-perception in the physical domain. Open-ended questionnaire responses were used to identify important contributors to the physical self-esteem of a college age population. Based on these data, four subdomain subscales designed to assess perceived bodily attractiveness, sports competence, physical strength, and physical conditioning were constructed along with a general physical self-worth subscale as the basis of the Physical Self-Perception Profile. The sensitivity, reliability, and stability of the subscales were supported for both genders across three independent samples. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated the discriminant validity of the subdomain subscales, supporting the concept of multidimensionality within the physical domain. Zero-order correlation, partial correlation, and multiple regression analyses provided results consistent with a three-tier hierarchical structure among self-perception elements. In addition, initial predictive validity of the subdomain subscales was evidenced through their association with degree and type of involvement in physical activity.

National guidelines have emphasized the benefits of moderate physical activity for promoting health and reducing sedentary behavior, a lifestyle particularly common in women (USDHHS, 2000). This has led to the marketing and promotion of 10,000 steps per day using a pedometer, even though empirical evidence to support this step goal is lacking. The purposes of this study were to determine if this prescribed daily step goal was attainable for sedentary women and to determine the effect of this goal on step counts. Forty-five sedentary women, who were divided into three groups based on mean baseline step counts (very low activity, VLA; low activity, LA; more active, MA) were asked to attain 10,000 steps per day for four weeks. Based upon our analyses, the VLA and LA groups attained the 10,000-step goal a significantly lower mean number of days per week than the MA group. Although the VLA group was not able to attain 10,000 steps per day over the short term, they did increase their step counts in response to a 10,000-step daily goal. In fact, the weekly mean step counts for all three groups improved from baseline as the study progressed. There was, however, a significant decline in step counts from step goal week 3 to week 4 in the MA group, whereas the step counts remained significantly higher than baseline for all four weeks in the VLA and LA groups. As hypothesized, sedentary women with low baseline step counts were low in goal attainment. Counter to hypothesized, motivated sedentary women responded to the 10,000-step goal over the short-term with increased step counts, even when goal attainment was low. Additional research is necessary to test the long-term adherence to the 10,000-step goal among sedentary women. In addition more comprehensive study of step counting as a motivator of activity is necessary including comparison of the 10,000-step goal standard to individualized goals based on baseline step counts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the pedometer-measured physical activity levels of high school students (Grades 9–12). Comparisons were made between sexes, among grades, among groups based on level of participation in sport and physical education, and among groups based on levels of self-reported physical activity (based on questions from the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System). Participants wore sealed pedometers for 4 consecutive school days. Results indicated no differences among days of monitoring but did show significant differences in mean steps per day between sexes, among grades, and among activity levels. Males took more steps per day than females did, and 10th graders took more steps than 12th graders did. Teens involved in sport and physical education took more steps than did those not involved. Teens who reported meeting both moderate and vigorous activity recommendations were most active, followed by teens meeting recommendations for moderate activity.