Prática esportiva e sua relação com o rendimento escolar em escolares do ensino secundário de João Pessoa

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to identify the perception of secondary school students about sports practice and improvement of school performance. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative approach. The sample consisted of 58 adolescents, 18 males (31.0%) and 40 females, aged 14 to 19 (15.9 ± 1.0 years), enrolled in a public school in Joao Pessoa. The variables investigated were the sociodemographic profile (sex, age, schooling and income) and sports practice (Sports past, sports habits, perception of sports practice and academic performance). The instrument of data collection was a questionnaire adapted from Gonçalves (2011) with 14 open and closed questions. Data analysis used descriptive statistics for the distribution of absolute and relative frequencies and measures of central tendency. Results: On the sports past, 39.7% said they always practice sports, 20.7% practiced since children with interruptions. 25.9% practiced only as a child and 13.8% never practiced sports. In relation to current practice, 58.6% are active and 41.4% are not; 67.2% practice three times a week and 32.8% for more than three days; 70.7% practice less than 300 minutes per week and 29.3% for a longer time. The main context for the practice of sports is leisure (58.8%), followed by school (26.5%) and sport competition (14.7%). 94.8% believe that sport improves school performance and 5.2% does not. The factors related to improvement in school performance according to the perception of both sexes were: 35.0% stress reduction, 24.2% attention, 17.5% memorization, 13.3% socialization and 10.0% decision making. Conclusion: Most students declare themselves to be physically active, but there was insufficient frequency and time in sports practice. The main context for the accomplishment of the sport was the leisure and most expressive of the students recognized that the sports practice can improve the school performance, with greater emphasis in the decrease of the stress, improvement in the attention and memorization.