Students’ beliefs about physical education and the impact of lesson frequency

Abstract

This study aims to highlight students’ beliefs about physical education (PE). The specific objectives are a) to describe students’ behavioural, normative, and control beliefs; b) to establish patterns between the three belief domains; and c) to analyse the impact of the PE lesson frequency on beliefs. A nationwide random stratified sample of 1,736 ninth-grade students in Sweden completed the study’s questionnaire, while the high response rate and the low internal dropout rate support the generalizability of the findings. The data analysis focused on three student groups based on lesson frequency of one, two, and three or more times weekly. On average, students’ answers indicated overwhelmingly positive beliefs. A second-order model with very close fit indexes showed similarities among the three groups. However, testing for the equivalence of the latent mean structures indicated a group non-invariant solution. The study demonstrates interrelation patterns among behavioural, normative, and control beliefs and significant associations between lesson frequency and beliefs.