Perceptions and behaviors of sex discrimination in the practice of physical exercise among men and women in pre-adolescents leisure time

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive empirical study on habits and customs that have the children in physical activities, games and sports not organized in leisure School periods. A sample of 1094 students of sixth grade of Primary School (11.31 ± 0.48 years), belonging to Schools in Spain. For this purpose, a questionnaire with 10 items, with a different linguistic wording for girls and boys was used. The results indicate that are some barriers for gender discrimination in the practice of physical activities, games and sports, not organized in times of leisure for children analyzed. The main results show that there are significant differences between boys and girls, including: participation in games, consider stronger than those of opposite-sex, or teasing for the victory with the opposite gender. Conclusion, it is confirmed that children of this age claim to have perceptions and behaviors of subtle sex discrimination.