How Can Physical Inactivity in Girls Be Explained? A Socioecological Study in Public, Subsidized, and Private Schools

Rodrigo Soto-Lagos, Carolina Cortes-Varas, Solange Freire-Arancibia, María-Alejandra Energici and Brent McDonald
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Rodrigo Soto-Lagos: Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Andres Bello University, Viña del Mar 2520000, Chile
Carolina Cortes-Varas: Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Andres Bello University, Viña del Mar 2520000, Chile
Solange Freire-Arancibia: Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Andres Bello University, Viña del Mar 2520000, Chile
María-Alejandra Energici: Faculty of Psychology, Alberto Hurtado University, Santiago 9160000, Chile
Brent McDonald: Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: In the last few years, the World Health Organization has highlighted that physical inactivity is a global issue affecting women to a greater extent than men. Faced with this, different nation states have developed public policies to reduce physical inactivity at school; however, the biomedical and individualistic models used have generated widespread criticism, as figures remain the same. In the context of failed interventions on increasing levels of physical activity, this study utilizes a socioecological model to analyze and understand how physical inactivity is reproduced in girls in the Chilean education system. A qualitative study was implemented, as it allows a focus on the entailed meanings, context, and processes. Active semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 groups comprising headmasters, teachers, non-teachers, students, and families. The results show that physical inactivity is linked to factors that go beyond the individualistic model; that is, consideration must include intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy dimensions. Furthermore, gender stereotypes gain relevance in physical education classes, in addition to friendships and family, teaching, and administrative work, access to safe play areas, use of spaces, and widespread cultural factors associated with men and women. This study concludes that the assessed gender differences should be approached from a pedagogical perspective beyond common sense, further reporting that the individualized explanation for physical inactivity is irrelevant to answer why women are more inactive than men.

Keywords: physical inactivity; gender; physical education; socioecological model; physical activities; girls; public policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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