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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