Determination of physical activity and physical fitness levels of Turkish and foreign national secondary school students

The purpose of this study is to determine physical activity and physical fitness levels of Turkish and foreign national secondary school students. With this basic purpose; in this study, physical activity and physical fitness levels of Turkish and foreign national secondary school students were examined comparatively. The study caarired out by general secreening model and sample of the study consisted of 398 Turkish and foreign national secondary school students. As a data collection tool; personal information form, international physical activity questionnaire and physical fitness tests were used. In the analysis of the data it was used besided the descriptive statistics, t-test was used for pairwise comparisons, and one-way analysis of variance (Anova) was used for multiple comparisons. Tukey test was used to determine the source of variance. In the study, it was observed that Turkish and foreign national secondary school students participated in moderate level physical activity. No significant difference was found in comparison of physical activity levels of Turkish and foreign students. Significant differences were found in the comparison of physical activity levels of Turkish and foreign students with respect to gender variable. In the study, the class level and family income status of the students showed a significant difference in the physical activity levels of Turkish students however it did not showed a significant difference in the foreign national students. No significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of school achievement variable. In addition, physical fitness parameters of Turkish and foreign students were determined in the study. In the comparison of physical fitness parameters of Turkish and foreign students; significant differences were found in push-ups, right-hand flexibility, left-hand flexibility, long jump and left-hand claw strength values. The physical fitness parameters of Turkish and foreign students were compared in terms of gender variable and significant differences were found in Turkish students' shuttle, push-up, standing long jump, vertical jump, right hand claw force and left-hand claw force parameters. A significant difference was found in the shuttle, push-up, long jump, disk touch, vertical jump, height and right hand claw force parameters of foreign students in terms of gender. In the comparison of physical fitness parameters according to the class level variable significant differences were found in the Turkish students physical fitnes parameters; shuttle, push-ups, right-hand flexibility, left-hand flexibility, standing long jump, disk touch, vertical jump, height, weight, right hand paw force and left hand claw force tests. Significant differences were found in the physical fitness paramters of foreign students with push-ups, right-hand flexibility, left-hand flexibility, standing long jump, disk touch, vertical jump, height, weight, right hand paw force and left hand claw strength tests. Science Code: 130108 Keywords: Physical activity, physical fitness, ethnic group, secondary school students. Number of Pages: 126 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin ÜNLÜ