Abstract
Despite increasing socioeconomic inequalities in the health and well-being of adolescents, the voices of adolescents in disadvantaged communities regarding facilitators of physical activity (PA) have received relatively little attention. In response, the purpose of this study was to illuminate what adolescents in a multicultural community of low socioeconomic status (SES) in Sweden convey concerning facilitators of PA. Adolescents (n = 53, aged 12–13 years) were recruited from a school in a multicultural community of low SES in Sweden. Following an interpretive approach, 10 focus group interviews were conducted to produce data for a qualitative content analysis. When the adolescents mentioned PA, they mostly referred to spontaneous PA rather than organized PA, and expressed that they enjoyed their PA engagement, which they stated was promoted by the variation of PA, available options for PA, their physical skills, and the presence of peers. They reported that social support from family and friends facilitated their PA, and they offered several suggestions regarding how the school environment could better support their PA. From the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT), the results stress the importance of facilitating intrinsic motivation with a supportive PA environment in which adolescents can satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Highlights
There is a broad consensus that taking part in physical activity (PA) and sport from an early age is important for developing a foundation for lifelong physical engagement in healthy PA experiences [1,2].In response, by listening to the perspectives of adolescents, some scholars have sought to gain insights into their views and experiences regarding PA, as well as to learn what could facilitate their PA [3,4].By exploring these perspectives, scholars have identified several facilitators of PA among adolescents at the individual, social, environmental, and societal levels [3,4]
Some of the adolescents mentioned organized PA as a leisure-time activity, and organized PA in terms of physical education (PE), the adolescents more often highlighted spontaneous PA as a common leisure activity (the following quotations illustrates if it is a boy (b) or a girl (g), using pseudonyms, and from which focus group (FG) the quotation is retrieved (e.g., (FG 1)), as exemplified by one of the adolescents: Interviewer: Do they usually play football there?
When the adolescents discussed PA, they mostly referred to spontaneous PA in the neighborhood instead of organized PA
Summary
By listening to the perspectives of adolescents, some scholars have sought to gain insights into their views and experiences regarding PA, as well as to learn what could facilitate their PA [3,4]. By exploring these perspectives, scholars have identified several facilitators of PA among adolescents at the individual, social, environmental, and societal levels [3,4]. Related to this great migration is increasing socioeconomic segregation throughout Europe, including in Sweden [11]
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