Attitudes Toward Physical Education of Female High School Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of female high school students toward PE in selected North Carolina schools. The high schools were conveniently selected to include the Northeast Piedmont urban region of North Carolina. Participants consisted of 102 female students aged 14 to 18 years old who were enrolled in ninth to 12th grade PE classes. The instrument used in the study (High School Students' Attitudes Towards Physical Education) was a 19-item questionnaire developed by Bibik, Goodwin, and Omega-Smith (2007). Data were analyzed with the independent samples t test (p < .05) level of significance. The results of this study show the attitudes toward PE, the grade averages in PE, the importance of PE in their lives, and the preference for single-gender versus coeducational among female students were significantly different (p < .05). Additionally, within the coeducational PE class, 14.5% of the female students preferred being taught in a single-gender PE class, and approximately 24.4% of the female students enrolled in the single-gender PE class preferred a coeducational PE class. This study indicates the importance of creating positive learning environments at the high school level for female students, developing informed teacher strategies, and understanding female students' attitudes toward PE.