Factors preventing the participation of high school students in physical activities (Malatya province example)

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the factors that prevent high school students from participating in physical activities. Material and Method: The sample of the cross-sectional descriptive study a consisted of a total of 1995 students, 1148 female and 847 male, randomly selected from the high schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Malatya city center in the 2021-2022 academic year. "Factors Inhibiting Participation in Physical Activities Scale" (FAKEFÖ) developed by Özbek (2019) was used to collect data in the study. SPSS 25.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare two groups, and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were used to compare more than two groups. The results were evaluated at the 95% confidence interval and at the p<.05 significance level. Results: When the sports background of the participants were examined, it was understood that %62.5 of the women and %41.8 of the men did not have a sports background, and that 5.9% of the women and 11.5% of the men exercised regularly three days a week. It was determined that the scores of the participants in FAKEFÖ were moderate. As the education level of the parents increased, it was understood that the participation of the participants in physical activity (PA) was negatively affected by the family and the education system. It was found that the school, education system and total score of the scale in female participants with low family income, and other factors except family in male participants prevented participation in PA. When the family structure was examined, it was found that the facility-club for female participants and the education system for male participants were prevented from participating in PA. Finally, it was found that most of the participants had irregular sleep patterns, but this negatively affected participation in PA in the family and school sub-dimensions only in women. Conclusion: As a result of the research, it was understood that there are many factors that prevent high school students from participating in PA. Therefore, it is extremely important that these obstacles that will keep our youth, who will be the adults of the future, away from PA, are well understood by both local and national authorities and preventive and remedial measures are taken for them.