청소년의 체중조절관련 건강신념과 운동효능감 및 운동지속의도가 신체활동에 미치는 영향

Abstract

This study sought to examine whether physical activity level is associated with health belief-related weight control, exercise self-efficacy, and exercise adherence intention in Korean adolescents. As participants in the survey, a total of 652 male and female participants were recruited from junior high schools in Seoul. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistics program. The perceived benefit of health belief-related weight control was higher than other variables including perceived severity, barrier, and susceptibility in both genders. Female junior high school students were more susceptible to weight control behavior than male participants. In addition, the perceived benefit and barrier of weight control behavior were positively and negatively related to exercise adherence intention, respectively, in both male and female students. However, health belief was not correlated with physical activity level. These results indicate that positive health belief and weight control behavior may contribute to augmenting intrinsic motivation to exercise, but not genuinely increasing exercise participation. In contrast to health belief, the high level of exercise self-efficacy was found to be correlated with increases in exercise adherence intention and physical activity level. Therefore, education and guidance at home and in school are certainly required to establish desirable health belief and enhance exercise self-efficacy, which lead adolescents to maintain their healthy weight through regular physical activity.