ABSTRACT
This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Students’ Attitudes toward Physical Education Scale (SPEA), and to ascertain the associations between student attitudes toward physical education and gender, grade levels, school, and area. In 2013, a cross-sectional study was conducted in eight middle schools in Beijing, China. A sample of 1793 students was enrolled. Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were performed to evaluate the scale’s internal and test-retest reliability. Construct validity was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. Linear mixed models were used to examine the associations of attitude scores with gender, grade, school, and area (urban and suburban). Our results showed high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90, ICC = 0.94; 95% CI, 0.92 - 0.96) of the SPEA. For the construct validity, results of confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable model fit. Overall, the mean of the attitude scores was 75.5 ± 13.4 out of 100. The attitude scores were found to be statistically different between grade levels, schools, and areas. No differences were found for gender. This study provides evidence that the SPEA is acceptable for the assessment of the attitude toward physical education in Chinese students. The school plays a more important role in the student attitudes than school locations (urban or suburban) in our study. For better understanding of students’ attitudes toward physical education, further studies that focus on the environment of physical education in schools, and use more representative samples of schools from various locations are warranted.