Spanish University students’ barriers to practising physical activity and sports according to their social characteristics and gender

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María Espada, Nuria Romero-Parra and Jose Manuel Delfa

Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department

Citation

Espada, M., Romero-Parra, N., Manuel Delfa, J. (2023). Spanish University students’ barriers to practising physical activity and sports according to their social characteristics and gender. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 54(6), 498-508. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2023.54.498

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse gender differences in barriers to physical activity (PA) according to social characteristics in Spanish university students. The Scale of Perceived Barriers was administered to 3,060 Spanish university students (1,463 women and 1,597 men, with a mean age of 20.88±2.01). The women showed a higher score in the time and disliking barriers to PA in comparison to the men (p<0.001). Number of inhabitants and zone influenced time, disliking and environmental barriers to PA while ownership influenced disliking barriers (p<0.05). In conclusion, sociodemographic variables such as number of inhabitants, geographic zones or the ownership of the study centre influence the perception of these barriers, being greater in more populated areas, southern and western areas and in public centres. Additionally, the time barrier was greater for men in overpopulated areas and the disliking barrier was greater for women from southern and western areas. Therefore, social characteristics should be considered when analysing gender differences in barriers to PA.

Keywords: Physical activity, Gender, Sports, Barriers, sudents

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