Cross -cultural analysis of Navajo children's attraction to physical activity and perceived parental socialization influences

The purposes of this study were to examine the function of gender, perceived parental socialization influences, and perceived physical competence in differentiating attraction towards physical activity among Navajo children. An additional area of examination was to investigate measurement issues in relation to cultural perspectives. A six-phase pilot study was conducted with nine- through twelve-year-old Navajo children (n = 12) prior to collecting data for the actual study in order to examine the cross-cultural appropriateness of Brustad's (1996) Children's Attraction to Physical Activity scale (CAPA). Results from the pilot study indicated that some adjustments to the CAPA were necessary to better accommodate the cultural differences of Navajo children. These findings highlight the need for researchers to establish cultural equivalence with cognitive testing instruments prior to using them as assessment tools for different cultural groups.;The study was conducted with fourth- through sixth-grade Navajo children (n = 79). Overall, findings from the study indicated that Navajo children are attracted to physical activity, exhibit positive perceptions of their parents' physical activity socialization influences, and perceive themselves as reasonably competent in physical activity. Results from an equamax orthogonal factor analysis suggested that Navajo children exhibited somewhat different dimensions of attraction to physical activity than those outlined on Brustad's (1996) CAPA.;Significant gender differences were found in perceived physical competence with Navajo boys perceiving themselves as being more physically competent than Navajo girls. This finding is consistent with Brustad's (1993b) and (1996) studies and suggests that gender differences in perceived physical competence exist among different ethnic groups.;A significant correlational relationship was found between perceived physical competence and parental socialization for males. Perceived physical competence was the major predictor of attraction to physical activity for boys whereas, perceived physical competence and parental socialization equally predict attraction to physical activity for girls. These findings provide some evidence that a relationship exists between children's gender, parental socialization influences, and perceived competence and provide some support for Eccles and Harold's (1991) model of achievement choice in which children's gender and parental socialization values and expectancies directly influence children's motivational cognitions such as perceived competence.