Lengthy, but Interesting…
December 19, 2007, 3:49 pm
Filed under:
14-18,
5-9,
barriers,
cultural,
gender,
movement,
overcoming,
play,
research 
“COMPLETE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT”: VIDEO GAMES AS GENDERED PLAY SPACES
by Henry Jenkins
[Download PostScript version for printing] A Tale of Two Childhoods
Sometimes, I feel nostalgic for the spaces of my boyhood, growing up in suburban Atlanta in the 1960s. My big grassy front yard sloped sharply downward into a ditch where we could float boats on a rainy day. Beyond, there was a pine forest where my brother and I could toss pine cones like grenades or snap sticks together like swords. In the backyard, there was a patch of grass where we could wrestle or play kickball and a treehouse, which sometimes bore a pirate flag and at other times, the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy. Out beyond our own yard, there was a bamboo forest where we could play Tarzan, and vacant lots, construction sites, sloping streets, and a neighboring farm (the last vestige of a rural area turned suburban).
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Adolescent Boys report…
Male adolescents’ reasons for participating in physical activity, barriers to participation, and suggestions for increasing participation
Kenneth R. Allison Physical activity and fitness are generally recognized as contributing to enhanced physical and mental health as well as prevention of a number of diseases and other problems later in life (Blair et al., 1989; Haskell, Montoye, & Orenstein, 1985; Powell & Blair, 1994; Stephens, 1988; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Furthermore, concern about greater numbers of overweight and obese children, and the question of whether this pattern will continue into later adolescence, also suggest the benefits of physical activity among children and youth (Dishman, Sallis, & Orenstein, 1985; Sallis, Prochaska, & Taylor, 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). The normal pattern during adolescence, based largely on cross-sectional studies in North America and other settings, indicates a decrease in activity with increasing age (or grade), compounded by consistently lower levels of activity among females compared to males (Allison & Adlaf, 1997; Tappe, Duda, & Ehrnwald, 1989; Trost et al., 2002). Because of the health and other benefits of physical activity, these lower levels of physical activity among older adolescents are of concern.
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Teen Girls report…
December 17, 2007, 3:13 pm
Filed under:
14-18,
barriers,
body image,
cultural,
gender,
lifestyle,
motivation,
movement,
overcoming,
personal Teen Girls Report Barriers To Physical Activity
05 Apr 2006
Teenage girls perceive lack of time as the number one barrier to physical activity, according to a new study published in the March issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise�, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The three-year survey assessing black and white adolescent girls reveals sedentary habits are mostly linked to internal barriers (interest, motivation), which were unrelated to external factors (jobs, recreation).
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