Development and Validation of Scales assessing Perceived Benefits and Perceived Barriers to Physical Activity in High School Students in South Korea

Abstract

Abstract Background Many health-related studies have examined cognitive factors of physical activity, including development scale studies, but little is known about the perceived positive effects and perceived negative factors of physical activity in Korean adolescents. This study aimed to develop scales assessing perceived benefits and perceived barriers to physical activity in high school students in South Korea. Methods Participants were 300 high school students aged 17–18 (183 males and 117 females). The preliminary survey used an open-ended questionnaire to assess the physical activity determinants of Korean high school students. Items of the existing scales were modified or removed considering the result from the preliminary survey. In the main study, we conducted a closed-ended questionnaire including 10 perceived benefit items and 11 perceived barrier items. Results Our results indicate that higher perceived benefits were associated with the higher participation levels in students' physical activity. The higher perceived barriers, however, the lower participation levels. No difference in perceived benefits to the physical activity engagement between genders (t = 1.450), while there were significant gender differences (t = − 2.989) in perceived barriers. We found that female students considered perceived barriers to physical activity greater than male students. For Perceived Benefits Scale, 10 items were loaded on one factor, which could explain 67.56% of the variance. The two-factor solution was loaded on 11 items Perceived Barrier Scale; 5 items of the first factor were loaded on the 'emotional factor' (46.89%), and 6 items of the second factor were loaded on the 'physical factor' (12.58%). Conclusion This study can serve as a beginning point to rethink the importance of considering cognitive factors of physical activity as well as to provide insight into developing adolescent health promotion plans and policies that are more effective and appropriate for Korean adolescents. Further research is needed on various measurements, including subjective and objective methods, using a larger sample of Korean adolescents.