Physical educators' attitudes toward fitness -promoting behavior based on their body mass and engagement in physical activity

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in Taiwanese high school physical educators' attitudes toward fitness-promoting behavior based on their level of engagement in physical activity on a regular basis and their Body Mass Index.;The population for this study was comprised of high school physical educators in public and private high schools in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A survey instrument was developed by replication and through a review of literature to collect demographic data and obtain physical educators' attitudes toward role-modeling physical activity and fitness-promoting behaviors. The surveys were distributed to a population of 250 physical educators from high schools in Kaohsiung City and county. The response rate was 93.2%. SPSS was used for all analyses. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for weekly Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) and a yes/no activity status question. The BMI was calculated by dividing the participants' body weight in kilograms by his or her height in meters squared (kg/m2). One-way ANOVAs were used to answer questions regarding physical educators' attitude toward fitness-promoting behaviors on the Attitude Toward Role Modeling survey (ATRMS). Two-way ANOVAs [2 (activity status) x 5 (BMI classification)) was performed on participants' attitudes toward role modeling.;Primary conclusions to emerge from this study include the following. Physical educators engage in physical activity on a regular basis. Physical educators were fairly equally distributed over all five weight categories. Overall, physical educators believe that they should be role modeling fitness-promoting behaviors. Physical educators who exercised regularly believe they should be role modeling fitness-promoting behaviors. Male physical educators have stronger attitudes toward role modeling fitness-promoting behaviors, engaging in physical activity, and exercising regularly than female physical educators. Public high school physical educators have more positive attitudes toward fitness-promoting behaviors and are more involved in regular physical activity than private high school physical educators. Physical educators' weight does not affect their attitude toward role modeling fitness-promoting behavior.