Behavioral strategy in respect of health of girls engaged in various types of motor activity within sportization of physical education

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ˑ: 

Ph.D., Associate Professor N.V. Peshkova
Surgut State University, Surgut

 

Keywords: university sport, elective courses, sportization, behavioral health-related strategies.

Introduction. The problem of public health, especially health of the younger generation, has been one of the most pressing for many years. In many ways such close attention to this issue is due to the growing influence of various objective and subjective factors, such as: environmental pollution; development of technical devices reducing motor activity; smoking and alcohol abuse; poor nutrition; inadequate response to stressful situations; etc. The manifestation of these factors among young people can be related with a lack of internal resources to resolve the youth crisis, which is inherent in the student age.

According to V.I. Slobodchikova and E.I. Isaev [5], the period of 17-21 years is a stage of individualization in the development of personal subjectivity, this is the time when a person should overcome the youth crisis in order to become an author of his life. Note that the psychological basis of this crisis is the difference between the "ideal Self" and the real Self, which cannot yet be fully evaluated by a person. Authors believe that "the only way a person can remove this contradiction is via creative transforming activity focused on the improvement of himself (herself) and the surrounding world" [5, p. 60].

We believe, the motor activity fully represented in university sport can be such a transforming activity for young people. With this regard, the role of university sport for personal self-determination and formation of a healthy lifestyle has changed severely in recent years. L.I. Lubysheva notes that in each of its segments sport performs a very important function of socialization, i.e. it provides assimilation of a certain knowledge system, social norms and universal values, that enable an individual to become (or remain) a full member of society [1].

We agree with Lubysheva that university sport integrated into the physical education system through sportization on the basis of elective differentiation, allows to involve students in planning their future work and self-analysing their abilities, skills and progress, so they become more responsible for their choices of physical activity [3, 4].

The purpose of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of health-related behavioral strategies of the girls involved in different types of motor activity within sportization of physical education.

Materials and methods. The study was organized at the Department of Physical Education of Surgut State University in 2015. In order to solve the tasks of the study we used specially developed surveys and the indicators of the locus of control of the female students regarding their achievements and health were determined using a test-questionnaire on the level of subjective control (E.F. Bazhin, E.A. Golynkina, A.M. Etkind) [2]. The sample was made of 102 2-3 year female students training in volleyball and bodybuilding groups.

There are two reasons why we surveyed the students of these two elective courses. First, volleyball and bodybuilding have been the most preferred types of physical activity for a long time. The students selected mainly these courses at the end of the stage of sports orientation (just when the first year of study at the university ends). Secondly, volleyball is a strongly competitive team sport, in which competitive performance depends on the actions of all team members, therefore it imposes high requirements to the communicative skills and the ability and desire of students to act as a team. Bodybuilding is, on the contrary, an individual type of motor activity where the results of the training process depend on student's own diligence and her own needs to look better and improve health. In the first case, a competition is a struggle with the opponent; in the second case – a student is supposed to overcome herself striving for planned result.

So it can be assumed that the female students engaged in different types of motor activity may have different indicators of the locus of control regarding achievements and health and this is seen in their involvement in competitive activities and in the formation of the need for physical self-improvement.

Results and discussion. The results of the survey of students regarding their satisfaction with the organization of university sport in Surgut State University are given in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Female students' survey results regarding their satisfaction with the level of development of university sport in their institution, %

It was found that the 2nd year students are mainly more satisfied compared to the 3rd year students in both volleyball and bodybuilding groups. The cause of dissatisfaction of volleyball players was the lack of organized events, and in the group of bodybuilders – lack of events related to physical recreation (hikes, other outdoor activities, etc.).

The data concerning the question: "Do you participate in university competitions?" (Table 1), fully meet our assumptions about the difference in evaluation of competitive activity and the desire to participate in it on the part of female students of elective courses.

Table 1. Female students' survey results regarding participation in university competitions, %

Answer option

Volleyball

Bodybuilding

2nd year

3rd year

2nd year

3rd year

Yes, I love it

54,5

60,0

20,8

-

No, but I would like to participate

27,3

26,6

11,6

14,6

No, I do sports for myself and I don't care about competitions

18,2

13,4

61,8

70,8

No, never wanted

0,0

0,0

5,8

14,6

More than 80% of volleyball players like to participate in competitions or would like to join one of the university teams and start to take part in university events. At the same time, more than 60% of 2nd and 3rd year student-bodybuilders are not interested in competitive activities, according to their answers they do sports only for themselves and do not care about competitions.

Based on the attitude to competitive activity, one would expect the achievement-related behavioural strategies to be more pronounced in the group of volleyball players than those in the group of bodybuilders. However, the results obtained during the test-questionnaire on the level of subjective control bring us to a different conclusion (Figure 2). 

Figure 2. The percentage ratio of control types (level of subjective control) for 2-3-year female students regarding achievements (Ia) and health (Ih) (ET – external type, IT – internal type)

According to Figure 2, most of the 2nd and 3rd year students engaged in bodybuilding are characterized by the internal type of control regarding both achievements and health, meaning that these students, unlike those with the external type of control, feel responsible for everything that happens to them in life, including their own health. In the group of volleyball players (3rd year students), 53.6% of respondents have the external type of control on a scale of internality regarding achievements, i.e. more than a half of them explain good things happening in their life by luck or help of other people. The same trend is noted in the rest of the data obtained using this technique in the group of students involved in volleyball.

Sports-centered physical education helps solve an important problem of forming the need for physical self-improvement. The survey data concerning their further sports activities upon graduation are presented in Table 3. According to the findings, the percentage of student-volleyball players who are absolutely sure of doing sports upon graduation increases by 30.7 % by the time of the 3rd year of study, whereas in the group of girls involved in bodybuilding this indicator remains at the same level.

Table 2. Students' answers to the question: "Do you plan to do sports on your own upon graduation?" (%)

Answer option

Volleyball

Bodybuilding

2nd year

3rd year

2nd year

3rd year

Definitely yes, I'm sure

22,7

53,4

38,2

38,7

Rather yes, not sure

59,0

26,7

50,0

51,7

Rather no

13,6

6,5

8,8

3,2

I don't know yet

4,7

13,4

3,0

6,4

In this regard, it should be noted that a sufficiently large number of students in this group - more than 50% of them - are thinking about continuing their physical self-improvement.

Conclusion Based on the findings the authors believe it is necessary to highlight in the course of university studies the questions of deeper understanding of the health promotion value of motor activity, to facilitate changing of the value attitude to a healthy lifestyle into practice with regard to level of individual’s subjective control.

References

  1. Lubysheva, L.I. Novy kontseptual'ny podkhod k sovremennomu ponimaniyu sotsial'noy prirody sporta (New conceptual approach to modern interpretation of social nature of sport) / L.I. Lubysheva, V.P. Mochenov // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. – 2015. – № 4. – P. 94–101.
  2. Osnovy psikhologii: Praktikum (Principles of Psychology: Tutorial) / Comp. ed. L.D. Stolyarenko. – Rostov-on-Don: Fenix, 2003. – 704 P.
  3. Peshkova, N.V. Sportizatsiya fizicheskogo vospitaniya kak uslovie razvitiya studencheskogo sporta v vuzakh nesportivnogo profilya (Development of university sport in non-sports universities via sportization of physical education) / N.V. Peshkova, L.I. Lubysheva, A.A. Peshkov // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. – 2013. – № 12. – P. 88–95.
  4. Peshkova, N.V. Integratsiya studencheskogo sporta v sistemu fizicheskogo vospitaniya v vuze (Integration of university sport in university physical education system) / N.V. Peshkova // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. – 2015. – № 3. – P. 89.
  5. Slobodchikov, V.I. Osnovy psikhologicheskoy antropologii. Psikhologiya razvitiya cheloveka: Razvitie sub'ektivnoy real'nosti v ontogeneze (Fundamentals of psychological anthropology. Psychology of Human Development: Development of subjective reality in ontogenesis) / V.I. Slobodchikov, E.I. Isaev. – Moscow: Shkol'naya Pressa, 2000. – 416 P.

Corresponding author: apokin_vv@mail.ru