The effect of a female physical educator's physical appearance on physical fitness knowledge and attitudes of junior high students

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a female physical educator's physical appearance on the cognitive performance of junior high school students on a test of health-related fitness knowledge. This study also attempted to determine if a female physical educator's physical appearance affected student attitudes toward the instructor. The study was designed to investigate the students' attitudes over a six-week period in order to determine if the physical educator's appearance had an effect over longer periods of exposure.;Following informed consent, ninety-three, 12 to 16 year old, seventh through ninth grade students, participated in this study. A female physical educator taught a six-week instructional course on health-related fitness knowledge to two randomly selected physical education classes from two junior high schools in northeast, Arkansas. The physical educator met with each class three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) for one 60-minute period. In both classes the instruction was identical. The only difference between the two classes was the female physical educator's physical appearance. At one junior high school, the instructor remained her normal body size (non-obese condition). For this group, the instructor was classified as having recommended weight and appeared physically fit.;At the second junior high school, the physical education class was taught by the same instructor; however, she wore an under garment to present an image of an obese physical educator (obese condition). For this group, the instructor was classified as being obese and appeared physically unfit.;A health related fitness examination was administered to the students in a pretest and posttest format. Additionally, student attitudes toward the physical educator were assessed. A student attitude questionnaire (SAQ), which included 8 items and required responses on a 5-point Likert scale was administered to the students on three occasions during the 6-week instructional period (week one, week three, and week six).;Posttest means were compared between groups with the pretest scores used as a covariate. After satisfying the pretest score assumption of homogeneity for both groups, F (1, 87) = .336 p = .564, a significant group x posttest score interaction existed, F (1, 88) = 4.408 p = .039. SAQ sums were analyzed for all participants and detected no significant group x time interaction. However, an SAQ sum score main effect was found to exist, Wilks' Lambda = .789, F(2, 75) = 10.056, p = .000. Paired t-tests showed that significant differences existed between all combinations of SAQ mean scores, except for the values of week one to week three, which demonstrated a trend toward being significant (p = .053). Within group paired t-tests were computed for the SAQ to detect if any differences existed independent of group. Analysis revealed significant differences in attitudes occurred between the weeks one and three and one and six, for the non-obese condition (t (32) = -3.323, p = .002; t (32) = -3.800, p = .001). Likewise, for the obese condition significant difference occurred between weeks one and six t (44) = -2.517, p = .016.