ABSTRACT Youth’s intentions to be physically active and factors impacting to intentions. HBSC-Study 2010.

Martin, Leena Maarit Master thesis in health education University of Jyväskylä, Faculty of Sport and health sciences, Department of health sciences 2015 48 pages, 14 appendices Advisor Ph.D. Raili Välimaa The purpose of this master thesis was to study youth’s intention to be physically active at the age of 20. Also the level of current physical activity and reasons for being physically active were observed. The second aim was also to study the associations between different factors to the likelihood of having positive intention to be physically active at the age of 20. Factors included were age, gender, a membership in sports club, family socioeconomic status and the reasons for being physically active. The data was based on the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study from 2010. For this master thesis, the data was analysed using only the information of 7th and 9th graders (n=4269). The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS 20 software. To solve the research problems, frequency distributions, cross tabulation, χ2 -test, factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used. Intention to be physically active at the age of 20 was more common among girls than boys. Boys were more physically active than girls, and it was more common to be a member of sport club among boys than girls. Having fun, better health and better outfit were youth’s most common single reasons for being physically active. Logistic regression analysis revealed that sport club membership and vigorous leisure time physical activity were increasing the likelihood for positive intention to be physically active at the age of 20. For girls there was also younger age that increased the likelihood. Youth’s important reasons for being physically active that were increasing the likelihood of positive intention, were for girls sensations and social reasons of physical activity, and for boys health, outfit and social reasons. According to previous studies, being physically active at school-age, moderate to vigorous leisure time physical activity and sport club membership increased the likelihood for being physically active in adulthood. This study revealed that the same factors increase the likelihood of positive intention to adulthood’s physical activity. Sport clubs have an important role of maintaining youth’s physical activity level and positive intention. Sport clubs should focus on reaching youth and preventing of drop-out during puberty. Sport clubs and other sport providers should provide positive experiences, positive goals and atmosphere for youth. Also the age and gender should always be considered when providing the physical activity experiences for youth.