A study of levels of physical activity in selected outstanding children's picture books of the 1980's

The present study was undertaken to investigate the extent to which level of physical activity was associated with age and gender in contemporary outstanding children's picture books. Outstanding picture books were defined as those which had been awarded prizes or which has appeared on published lists of outstanding books. The study was restricted to books of nonfiction and realistic fiction.;The sample analyzed in the study consisted of 52 books which had been named as outstanding in the 1980-1986 period. Data for the study were gathered by means of a content analysis of the illustrations in the books.;Two null hypotheses were tested in the study: (1) sex is independent of level of physical activity, and (2) age is independent of level of physical activity. It was found that (1) level of physical activity was associated with age and gender in the sample analyzed: (2) the association between gender and level of physical activity was observed only in the depiction of adults and the elderly; (3) gender differences in level of physical activity were more pronounced in the depiction of the elderly: and (4) age differences in level of physical activity were more pronounced in the depiction of females. The association between gender and level of physical activity resulted from males being depicted as more physically active than females. The influence of age on physical activity was illustrated at both the sedentary and vigorous/strenuous levels of activity. As age increased, sedentary activity increased. Conversely, as age increased, vigorous/strenuous activity decreased. One other association suggested by the analysis was that the moderate level of activity appeared to be more strongly associated with adults than with other age groups.