2018 Nanyang Research Programme (NRP) Oral Presentation NIE12: Junior College Students’ Perceptions of the National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA) Gabriel Lee, Dunman High School
Introduction • The National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA) was implemented in Singapore schools in 1982 with the aim of promoting and assessing the health-related and performance-related fitness of the Singaporean school-going population. • Consists of 6 fitness test items to measure and assess the fitness related performance of participants.
Current Issues With the NAPFA Test • Growing trend of obesity amongst the nation’s young – 13 percent of schoolchildren overweight in 2017, an increase from the 11 percent in 2011. (The Straits Times). • Is this then, perhaps, evidence that students are unreceptive to the NAPFA test as an assessment to evaluate and improve their fitness levels ?
Past Research Conducted on Students’ Perceptions • May reinforce Lim’s (2011) argument that students possess negative perceptions of NAPFA , hence are not willing to be receptive to it as an instrument to evaluate their fitness. • May be even more so for females, whom Lim (2011) interviewed as part of her study – she discovered that even female students who scored “Gold” for the test “shuddered at the very thought of NAPFA”.
However… • Apart from Lim (2011)’s study, there has been no other major study undertaken regarding students’ perceptions of NAPFA. • Also no empirical or public data available to clarify differences in perceptions towards NAPFA between both genders. • Existing gap in data available therefore stymies the effectiveness of the decision-making process to allow stakeholders to implement judicious changes to NAPFA .
Aim(s) of Project • To clarify the types of behavioural regulations behind JC students’ participation in NAPFA. • To clarify the differences, if any, in behavioural regulations between both genders .
Literature Review and Hypothesis • Literature review was conducted by the author in the area of exercise where it has been established by various researchers that female college students possessed lower levels of self-determined behavioural regulation as compared to their male counterparts . • Hypothesis: Female JC students are more motivated to partake in NAPFA due to extrinsic factors, whereas male JC students are more motivated to partake in NAPFA due to more self-determined behavioural regulation types (e.g. integrated regulation).
Methodology - Participants • Total of 3 Junior Colleges (JCs) in Singapore were involved in the study • 120 student participants, of which 85 were female and 35 were male. • Student participants were from age 17 to 19 ( M = 17.88, SD = .52).
Methodology - Procedures • Research ethical approval was obtained from NTU’s IRB and Data Administration Centre, Planning Division, MOE. • Consent forms were issued and collected back from student participants. • Only students who had submitted their consent forms were allowed to partake in the study .
Methodology - Measures • The survey administered was adapted from the Exercise Questionnaire Regulations (BREQ-3) by Markland . • The Behavioural Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ), currently the most widely used measure of the continuum of behavioural regulations in exercise psychology research, was developed to measure amotivation, external, introjected, identified, integrated and intrinsic regulations based on Deci and Ryan’s Self-DeterminationTheory (SDT).
The Six Types of Behavioural Regulation (Deci and Ryan) • Amotivation – the lack of motivation to engage in an activity or behaviour. • External Regulation – behaviour engagement due to an external authority with an unlikely chance of continuing the activity without external pressures. • Introjected Regulation – behaviour engagement due to an internally imposed pressure, usually manifested as guilt or need for self-esteem. • Identified Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised value placed on the behaviour. • Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. • Intrinsic Regulation – behaviour engagement due to an overall enjoyment of the behaviour.
Methodology - Survey • A Likert scale was used to determine participants’ types of behavioural regulations using a 5 option symmetric agreement scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. • Internal reliability of the test was ensured through the Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient.
Discussion of Results • A 6 (type of NAPFA behavioural regulations) x 2 (gender) mixed ANOVA was conducted. All findings were reported significant at p <= 0.05. • In light of the time constraints of this oral presentation, only the few most notable observations revolving around Integrated Regulation and Identified Regulation will be presented .
Overview of Results Overview of Results 2. Significant Difference Between 1. Significant Difference Between Identified Regulation and Other Integrated Regulation of Males vs 3. Females are more extrinsically Forms of Regulation Across Males Females motivated whereas males are more and Females self-determined in terms of motivation. Overall Low Integrated Regulation Overall High Identified Regulation Scores Scores
Discussion of Results (Part 1) • It was discovered that the interaction effect between the types of behavioural regulation and gender of the participant was found significant , F (5, 590) = 2.86, p = .02, partial η 2 =.02. This result indicated that behavioural regulation scores were different between females and males.
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Discussion of Results (Part 1) • Upon conducting a post-hoc test for the interaction effect, it was discovered that male’s Integrated Regulation score was significantly higher than female’s ( p = 0.02) .
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Analysis of Results (Part 1) • Male JC students possessed a higher level of Integrated Regulation than female JC students. • This could be because revailing social norms might have resulted in males internalising NAPFA, or keeping fit, as an integral part of their masculine identity – in accordance to Parson’s role theory (Robertson, n.d). • Role theory is a perspective in sociology and social psychology that considers most motivations to be the acting out of socially defined categories, in this case, hegemonic gender roles .
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Analysis of Results (Part 1) • Males may believe that NAPFA, as an assessment meant to evaluate their physical fitness and falls squarely under the “male domain” (Riemer, 2003), is aligned with the expectations, norms and behaviours that they are supposed to fulfill as part of their masculine identities (Chalabaev, 2013). • On the other hand, females may possess socially constructed ‘feminine’ identities that cause them to be “directed away from sports and exercise that require strength, power, aggression and masculinity” (Mansfield, 2018) – notably, in this case, for NAPFA, a battery of assessments to test fitness components such as muscular endurance and muscular strength (Giam, 1980).
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Analysis of Results (Part 1) • Second reason for higher integrated regulation score observed for males may also be the corollary of role theory – male JC students assume the second role of a male pre-enlistee about to serve National Service (NS) . • This second role could then have provided JC males, for whom “compulsory national service follows formal schooling” (Fry & McNeill, 2011), the impetus to internalise that keeping fit defines their identity as male pre-enlistees who are about to serve NS.
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Analysis of Results (Part 1) • On the other hand, as female JC students are not required to serve NS, they do not possess the role of a pre-enlistee about to serve NS , thus there may be less motivation for them to integrate NAPFA as part of their identity as females.
Integrated Regulation – behavior engagement due to an internalised sense that the behaviour is an integral part of one’s self. Overall Integrated Regulation Levels • Although male JC students reported higher levels of integrated regulation as compared to females , overall integrated regulation scores were noted to be the lowest out of the six types of behavioural regulations amongst the entire sample (i.e. for both genders).
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