Investigation of secondary and HİGH school students' attitudes towards physical education and sport lesson and nutritional habits (Giresun Çamoluk sample)

The aim of this study is the examine the secondary and high school students' attitudes towards physical education and sport lesson and nutritional habits. Also, exploring the relation between these two variables. A total of 173 students, 84 (48%) girls and 89 (43%) boys, with an average age of 14 years old, who were studying at secondary and high school levels in Giresun/Çamoluk, participated voluntarily to carry out the research. The participants were informed about the study and the questionnaire. Personal Information Form, Physical Education Lesson Attitude Scale (BETS), Attitude towards Healthy Eating Scale (SBIÖ) were applied to the participants, respectively. The analysis of the obtained data was made using the SPSS for Windows (23.0) statistical package program. Independent sample t-test was used for comparison between groups. Further, Pearson-Correlation test was applied to determine the correlation levels of the variables. Statistical significance level was accepted as (p < 0.05). While the mean score of the Physical Education Attitude Scale (BETS) was 156.41 ± 14.4 for the girls, the mean score for the boys was 160.53 ± 12.8, which was higher than the girls (p < 0.05). While the mean score of the Attitudes towards Healthy Eating Scale (SBIAS) was found as 77.56 ± 10.4 for girls, the mean score for boys was found as 78.85 ± 8.6, which was higher than girls (p < 0.05). A moderately significant correlation was found between the total score of BEÖ and the total score of SBIT (r= .388**, p < 0.01). As a result, it has been discovered that secondary school is better than high school in terms of physical education and sports attitude general score according to school type. It has been found that boys are better than girls in the scale of attitude towards physical education and sports lessons and healthy eating. Therefore, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between physical education and sports lessons and healthy eating habits. Thus, as the attitude towards physical education and sports lessons improves, the attitude towards healthy nutrition also improves. The present results open the door to a possible impact analysis. Additionally, the positive relationship between the attitude towards physical education and sports lessons and nutritional habits provides an opportunity for a possible structural equation modeling study. So, we can bring forward the argument that future studies with larger and more representative data will be beneficial. Keywords: Physical Education and Sport, Nutrition, Attitude.