A comparison of high school physical education curriculum experiences and current activity levels of university students

The purpose of this study was to determine whether university students who completed multiple semesters of high school physical education courses were more likely to be physically active than students who completed fewer semesters and if the content of those courses had an impact on physical activity levels of young adults.;The sample for this study consisted of 1689 university students (females = 1074, males = 615) enrolled in general studies physical education courses at the University of Arkansas and Southwest Missouri State University who were administered the Secondary School Physical Education Experiences Survey. Results were analyzed utilizing unpaired t tests to determine significance and an alpha level of p < .05 was used to make all decisions concerning hypotheses.;Respondents were divided two groups for each of the primary comparisons, curriculum foundations which referred to the number of semesters of high school physical education courses a respondent completed, and curriculum content which referred to the number of content areas that were covered as part of the respondents' high school physical education courses.;The findings of the study indicated that university students who completed multiple semesters of high school physical education courses and courses with a more diverse curriculum were more physically active as young adults, providing justification for the re-examination of curricular issues in high school physical education.