The relationship between physical literacy and physical activity attitudes of middle school students

This study, aimed at examining middle school students' physical literacy and attitudes toward physical activity across various variables and exploring the relationship between physical literacy and physical activity attitudes, was conducted using the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The population of the study consisted of middle school students in Amasya, while the sample included 717 middle school students (376 girls and 341 boys) selected through the simple random sampling method. A three-section research form was utilized to collect data. The first section of the form included personal information to gather the participants' sociodemographic details, the second section featured the "Physical Literacy Attitude Scale for Middle School Students (PLAS-MSS)," and the third section included the "Physical Activity Attitude Scale for Middle School Students (PAAS-MSS)." Data obtained from the study were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 software package. Initially, normality distributions of the data were examined, and the data were found to be normally distributed. Accordingly, independent samples T-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation tests were employed in the data analysis. The results indicated that gender, age, grade level, fathers' educational level, regular exercise habits, involvement in sports, engagement in mobile games, and duration of mobile game play significantly influenced physical activity and physical literacy attitudes. However, mothers' educational levels and sports branches did not have a significant impact on these attitudes. Additionally, a positive and significant relationship was identified between middle school students' physical literacy attitudes and their attitudes toward physical activity. The findings suggest that positive physical literacy attitudes among middle school students positively affect their attitudes toward physical activity.