2 / 2024-03-15 10:52:55

The Current Situation and Internal Pathway of Physical Literacy among Chinese Elementary School Students

physical literacy,School children,internal pathway analysis

Background: With the continuous deepening of health literacy (HL) research, various aspects of health literacy among college students, the elderly, and special populations have been continually reported. However, there is still no unified scale to comprehensively measure the health literacy of elementary school students. Yet, the elementary school stage is a crucial period for acquiring knowledge, developing skills, and forming habits, representing a pivotal phase in human growth and development. The phenomenon of insufficient physical activity among Chinese elementary school students is quite prevalent. Therefore, this study focuses on measuring the physical literacy (PL) of elementary school students. The aim is to explore the internal causal relationships within PL, seeking measures to enhance elementary school students' physical literacy in the future, and to provide policy recommendations for improving relevant health literacy.

Methods: In this study, a questionnaire was developed from June to July 2022 to measure the PL of elementary school students in China across four dimensions: physical knowledge, physical motivation, physical competency, and physical participation. The questionnaire was designed to capture the characteristics of students from different grade levels. The results obtained from the questionnaire measurements were used to report on the levels of PL among elementary school students and to explain the internal causal relationships among the various dimensions of PL.

Results: The average score for physical activity health literacy among primary school students is 63.46 (SD 12.01) points. The qualification rates for health literacy in low, middle, and high grades are 76.35%, 73.45%, and 59.17%, respectively, all decreasing with the progression of grade levels. As primary school students advance in grades, the qualification rate for physical competency increases. However, the qualification rates for physical motivation in the three academic stages are 91.03%, 61.30%, and 63.78%, while the qualification rates for physical participation are 14.48%, 9.97%, and 3.95%, all exhibiting significant declines. The correlation between physical literacy and physical motivation consistently increases across the three grade levels (r=0.529, r=0.596, r=0.674, P<0.01), but correlations with physical competency (r=0.826, r=0.770, r=0.767, P<0.01) and physical participation (r=0.852, r=0.701, r=0.615, P<0.01) continuously decrease. Furthermore, with the increase in grade levels, the correlation between physical competency and physical knowledge, as well as their correlation with physical participation, decreases. However, in grades 5-6, the correlation between physical participation and physical motivation rises compared to grades 1-2. Physical competency serves as the mediating variable in the influence of physical motivation on physical participation, explaining 56.40% of the effect. The mediating effect of physical knowledge is not significant.

Conclusion: As grades advance, the qualification rate for physical competency steadily increases. However, due to a noticeable decrease in the qualification rates for physical motivation and physical participation, the overall health literacy qualification rate experiences a yearly decline. Considering the mediating effect of physical competency, educators and policymakers can focus future health promotion efforts on enhancing students' motivation to engage in physical activities. This involves fostering students' voluntary engagement in learning health knowledge, reinforcing training in movement skills, and thereby increasing the transition from physical motivation to physical participation among primary school students.