Physical and psychological effects of differently-oriented physical education programs in high-school students

Aim: This study aimed to compare a traditional physical education (PE) program and an innovative program based on highly emotional activities, concerning their effects on physical fitness, self-perception, physical activity enjoyment and psychobiosocial states in high-school students. Methods: 165 students (aged 15–17 years) from 8 classes of a Liceo Scientifico in Bologna participated to the study. 4 classes (46 M, 34 F) attended a traditional PE program (TR), while the other 4 classes (50 M, 35 F) attended a program including innovative activities (IN) with emotional impact such as climbing, underwater diving, sailing, in-line skating and ultimate frisbee. Both the programs included two weekly hours, and had a total duration of 6 months. Pre- and post-intervention, the participants completed three motor tests (handgrip strength, dynamic balance, flexibility) and four questionnaires: self-efficacy (one-item 1–11 scale), psychobiosocial states (PBS, 20-item scale), physical activity enjoyment (PACES, 16-item scale), and physical self-description (PSDQ, 40-item scale). Two-way (time 9 group) repeated measures ANOVAs were performed for each outcome variable, separately for boys and girls. Results: In boys, a significant interaction between group and time was observed for the dynamic balance and flexibility tests, and for self-efficacy. In both these motor tests, the TR group showed an improvement (pre- 0.62 (0.18) vs. post- 0.70 (0.16) m/s; 1.0 (9.9) vs. 3.0 (10.6) cm), while the IN group showed only trivial changes. The self-efficacy decreased in the IN group (8.4 (1.6) vs. 8.0 (1.3)), while it was almost unchanged in the TR group. Conversely, in both the groups there was an improvement in the hand grip strength and PBS test score, whereas the PSDQ score remained almost unchanged. In girls, the group 9 time interaction was significant for handgrip strength, flexibility, self-efficacy, and PSDQ. In the first three of these evaluations, the TR group showed an improvement (28.1 (5.0) vs. 29.6 (4.2) kg; 8.0 (9.4) vs. 11 (9.8) cm; 7.0 (1.9) vs. 7.4 (1.6)), while the IN group showed almost unchanged mean values. In the PSDQ, the IN group showed an improvement (3.9 (0.8) vs. 3.8 (0.6)), while there was no actual change in the TR group. Both the groups showed an improvement in the balance test (TR: 0.60 (0.18) vs. 0.67 (0.13) m/s; IN: 0.53 (0.13) vs. 0.58 (0.14)), and no changes in the PBS score. Conclusion: Students of the IN group did not experience the same improvements in motor tests as those attending traditional PE lessons. It can be argued that complex sports such as sailing, diving, etc. require long set-up phases, thus reducing the actual exercising time. Moreover, performing difficult and challenging sports may lead to lowered physical self perception, as demonstrated by the decreased self-efficacy in boys of the TR group. Instead, improving psychobiosocial states seems a typical response of boys, independent from the performed activity.