Research into the Adult Students’ Attitudes towards Physical Exercise in a Multicultural Environment of a Second Chance School

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to record and examine in depth the potential differences among the attitudes of adult students in Second Chance Schools (SCS) towards physical exercise, depending on the cultural group (Chris-tian, Turkish-speaking, Pomak, Roma), sex (male, female), as well as their participation in exercising (those who exercise and those who do not). The control group consisted of 62 students of the SCS of Komotini, 32 of whom were men and 30 were women, ranging from 19 to 57 years old. The tool which was utilized in the study was the questionnaire of the Theory of “Planned Behavior” regarding exercising, in its Greek version. As far as the statistical analysis of the data is concerned, descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Pearson Correlation analysis, as well as Cronbach’s α test using the SPSS program were used. The three-way analysis of variance presented that there were statistically significant differences between people who exercise and people who do not, the former exhibiting more positive attitudes towards exercising in comparison to the latter, in all of the question-naire sections. As for the sex, no statistically significant differences were found between men and women. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences among the Christian, Turkish-speaking, Pomak and Roma groups. The recording of the results constitutes a contributing factor for any future attempt to shape or improve the SCS students’ attitudes regarding exercising. Finally, further research is suggested, after having implemented exercising programs in SCS, so as to determine whether the students who previously did not participate in exercising have actually taken part in said programs, as well as to observe whether there are any potential positive changes in the SCS students’ attitudes regarding exercising.