Being a docile body: the effects on preadolescents of the social restrictions imposed during COVID-19

Simone Digennaro and Alice Iannaccone

Contemporary Social Science, 2023, vol. 18, issue 1, 90-108

Abstract: During the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, school activities in Italy have been provided through distance learning, with a consequent impact on the body of the students and their physical activity habits. The aim of this paper was to investigate the impact of a programme to sensibilize preadolescents towards the adoption of active lifestyles and to ‘activate’ the body to counteract the negative effects of lockdown. The sample was composed of 160 secondary school scholars. The intervention was conducted online; it comprised daily steps count with pedometers, motivational speeches and classes promoting tools for active lifestyles. The levels of physical activity, the perception of the impact of lockdown and the changes in terms of active lifestyle habits were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Effects on scholars’ lifestyles were investigated by focus groups. Before the intervention, scholars reported low levels of physical activity that has been increased through the intervention. Focus groups showed that scholars who were physically active positively coped with the negative effects of the lockdown. The results suggested that school activities should be refocused on the individual body for reconstructing the psychophysical well-being and limiting the marks left by the creation of docile bodies due to social restrictions.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21582041.2022.2162571 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rsocxx:v:18:y:2023:i:1:p:90-108

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rsoc21

DOI: 10.1080/21582041.2022.2162571

Access Statistics for this article

Contemporary Social Science is currently edited by Professor David Canter

More articles in Contemporary Social Science from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().