Participation In Physical Activities

INTRODUCTION

The Greek educational system is one of the most demanding educational systems across Europe and the Greek students, especially those of high school, are among the most hard-working people (Katsikas & Kavvadias, 1998). The considerably increased demands of highschool and in particular those for preparing to enter University, keep teenagers away from any kind of physical activity in order to devote themselves entirely to their lessons. The entire above are confirmed by Stavridis’ and Filippou’s (2004) research, who observed that there is a decrease of teenage participation in Greek traditional dance clubs, mainly because of their increased academic obligations. Following research (Filippou et al, 2010)) came up with the same conclusions.

Consequently, the concept of motives occupies a prominent place in the study of behavior as far as recreational activities are concerned, as studying them can not only answer “why” people participate in recreational activities but it can also help us better understand the way in which the decision to participate in recreational activities is taken.

According to Frederick and Ryan (1993) the factors which determine, to a considerable extent, individuals’ participation in physical activities, are their demographic characteristics. Gender, age, educational level, marital, professional and economic status, constitutes the determinant factors for people’s participation in physical activities.

Competition is the most important motive for men and teenagers. In contrast, women and elderly people believe that social motives are more important than everything else. Moreover, for women the social factors associated with the body are strong motives of participation, as opposed to men, who consider competition and skills to be major

Similar were the French people’s motives who participated in such courses organized in France. So, dance skills improvement, escaping boredom, relaxation from daily life problems and gaining new experiences were the major motives for French adults’ participation in traditional Greek dance courses (Filippou, Bebetsos, Vernadakis, Zetou, & Derri, 2014).

The results of Filippou’s, Goulimaris’, Baxevanos’ and Genti’s (2010) study indicated that the most important motives for attending Greek traditional dances are the improvement of the participants’ health via exercise as well as the improvement of their dancing dexterities. Finally, Lilou, Douka, Balaska and Alexandris (2010) indicated that stress reduction, escape and fitness improvement are the adults’ major motives for taking part in dancing activities.

The aim of this study was to investigate participation motives of male and female high school students in teaching programs of Greek traditional dance as well as the sex, the classes of attendance and the participation experience as factors determining participation