The role of psychosocial factors in the decision to enroll in physical education courses at the state college level.

OBJECTIVE: Physical education (PE) courses may provide young adults with opportunities to become active, however, enrollment in college PE courses remains low.

PARTICIPANTS: This study examined psychosocial factors related to PE enrollment in a sample of 177 college students (29.4% completed a PE course).

METHODS: Participants completed an online survey that inquired about demographic information, college PE enrollment, exercise self-efficacy, and several open-ended questions regarding their enrollment decisions.

RESULTS: There were no differences in self-efficacy scores between PE completers and non-completers. PE completers had more positive previous experiences with PE (43.7% vs 19.3%, p  < .01) while non-completers had more negative PE experiences (33% vs 12.5%, p  = .03). PE completers felt that self-improvement (51.5% vs 21.3%, p  < .01) was most important regarding decisions to enroll in a PE course, while non-completers were concerned with PE courses counting toward their degree (29.2% vs 9.1%, p  = .02).

CONCLUSIONS: These findings can help inform those involved in teaching and administration of PE courses at the state college level. Future research should further investigate how past PE experiences shape students' feelings toward PE.