Background: Growing evidence of lower physical activity (PA), higher sedentary behavior, and prevalence of overweight and obesity in African countries calls for more research on PA behavior and its various correlates in this context. This study examined the proportion of adults meeting World Health Organization PA guidelines from 3 urban regions of Botswana, as well as the relationship among sociodemographic factors, body image, and participation in moderate to vigorous PA. Methods: Using a 2-stage stratified cluster sampling approach, cross-sectional data were collected from 699 participants (females = 66%; M = 32.60 y; SD = 11.96). Results: Overall, 45.8% of participants met World Health Organization PA guidelines. Censored regression analyses indicated that females (B = −221.573, P < .001), and individuals from middle- (B = −331.913, P < .001), and high-income (B = −165.185, P = .036) households spent significantly less minutes in moderate to vigorous PA per week. Evaluative (B = −333.200, P < .001) and affective (B = −158.753, P = .038) components of body image were associated with significantly less minutes spent in moderate to vigorous PA per week. Conclusions: A systematic approach to PA promotion that targets females, middle- to high-income groups, and individuals experiencing body image concerns is needed.
With the growing interest in sport-based positive youth development (PYD) programs across the African continent, there is a need to establish suitable measures to evaluate the success of these programs in fostering PYD. The Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS) was recently developed as a sport-specific measure of life skills development. Despite its good psychometric properties among British youth sport participants, cross-cultural evidence indicates differences in the conceptualization of the eight factors measured by the LSSS. To determine the suitability of the LSSS for use in the African youth sport context, this study examined the latent structure and reproducibility of scores produced by the scale in a sample of youth sport participants from Botswana and Ghana. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 495 youth athletes (male = 51.72%), aged 12–21 years (M = 16.76, SD = 1.58), from junior and senior secondary schools was used in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling were conducted, and conventional fit indices were used to assess model fit. Results on the original LSSS model indicated the need for model re-specification in the current sample. A re-specified LSSS, consisting of the original eight factors, but only 34 of the original 43 items, demonstrated improved fit and adequate internal consistency. Scores derived from the re-specified LSSS proved to be a valid estimate of life skills development in the current sample of youth sport participants. This has important implications for the utility of the LSSS in different cultures.
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