Physical Activity and Sports Participation among Adolescents: Associations with Sports-Related Knowledge and Attitudes

The impact of physical activity and sport on the development of adolescents' knowledge and attitudes has not been studied sufficiently. We assume that young people with more knowledge of sports will continue to be physically active on their own. The aim of this study is to identify the differences in the sports and physical activity-related knowledge and attitudes of adolescents who engage in organised sports training and those who do not. A total of 1033 6th-grade students from (aged 12.7 +/- 0.4 years) 52 schools in Estonia were involved in the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between sports-related knowledge and attitudes towards students participating in organised sports training. The main reasons which hindered adolescents from being active were a lack of suitable equipment, being weaker than others, and laziness. Knowledge of physical activity, higher perceived benefits, and lower barriers to physical activity were the predictors contributing to adolescents' participation in sports training. The results demonstrated that physically active students have better knowledge of sports and physical activity. Students participating in organised sports training have strong positive benefits from being regularly physically active and feel that sports training maintains their health.