High and low exercisers among 14- and 15-year-old children.

To investigate ways in which young people's attitudes about, and motivation for, exercise vary with the levels of exercise they take, a self-completed questionnaire was given to 382 children aged 14-15 in two secondary schools in Devon. It was found that the high exercisers (defined by those in the highest quartile) had attitudes to exercise which were more favourable, received more encouragement to exercise and encouraged others to exercise more. The majority of low exercisers had positive beliefs about the value of exercise although approximately half in boys and one-third in girls were satisfied with the amount and kind of exercise they undertook. Low-exercising boys and girls at all exercise levels preferred their exercise to be noncompetitive. The majority of both sexes accepted that their future health depended on their current behaviour and, in girls, strength of this belief was directly related to exercise level. It may be concluded that advice to young people and physical education programmes in schools should take account of the attitudes and beliefs about exercise held by pupils of all physical abilities.