Emotional states of German high school students during physical education classes – gender and age comparison

Abstract

Emotions are an integral part of human activity, which also includes sports and physical education. Various emotional states during physical education lessons may have major impact on pupils’ attitudes towards these lessons, their attitudes towards exercise, and their motives and attitudes towards extracurricular sports activities. Therefore, the knowledge and ability to recognize and assess pupils' emotional responses to physical education may provide important organizational and methodological guidelines for the educational process. The aim of this paper is diagnosis and analysis of positive and negative emotions expressed by German high-school students during physical education classes, taking their age and sex into consideration. The study included a total of 502 secondary school students from southern Germany, divided in two age groups (13-14 and 17-18). The study used the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) research method to study the positive and negative emotional states of students during physical education classes. During these classes, the studied adolescents were mainly accompanied by positive emotional states such as: interested, excited, proud and active and to a lesser extent, negative emotions such as: distressed, ashamed, nervous and afraid. Gender and age significantly differentiate the intensity of both the positive and negative emotions experienced during physical education classes.