PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS OF TURKISH ADOLESCENTS: INFLUENCE OF SOME SOCIAL FACTORS

The most common reason to exercise was "health preservation" for both sexes. The most striking difference for both sexes was in the categories "weight loosing" and "becoming strong". The number of girls aiming for weight loss was double that of males. The contrary of this was the case for those aiming to become strong. Here the number of boys was double of the number of girls (Figure II).

The reasons for not exercising were around the same for both sexes with exception of dating. None of the girls mentioned dating as a reason for not exercising (Figure III).
Also the playmates were around the same for boys and girls. 67.9 % of the girls and 57.3% of the boys preferred to exercise with friends or a team (Figure IV).

Most parents were encouraging or neutral to exercising. There was no significant difference between girls and boys with regard to the approach of the parents to exercise (Table 3).

Table 3: Parent's approach to exercising with regard to sex