Hermsen Sander, Van Abswoude Femke, Steenbergen Bert
Precision Health and Nutrition Group, OnePlanet Research Centre, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
JMIR Form Res. 2023 Oct 5;7:e46350. doi: 10.2196/46350.
Participation in organized sports and other forms of active living have important health benefits in adolescence and adulthood. Unfortunately, the transition to secondary school has been shown to be a barrier to participation. Social networks can play important roles in activating adolescents, and information and communication technology (ICT) interventions can augment this role. To date, there are few insights into what adolescents themselves think and feel about barriers to and motivators for active living, the role of their social networks in active living, and the potential of ICT for physical activity (PA).
This study aimed to gather insights into the perspectives of adolescents aged 12 to 14 years on active living and sports participation, motivators and demotivators for active living, and the potential roles of their social network and of ICT.
A total of 26 adolescents aged 12 to 14 years from different levels of Dutch secondary schools participated in 1 of 5 semistructured focus group interviews, in which they talked about sports and PA, their social networks, their ICT use, and the role of social networks and ICT in PA. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a thematic qualitative approach.
The study showed that all participants were physically active, although the transition to secondary school made this difficult, mostly because of time constraints. Participants saw positive physical and mental health effects as important benefits of active living. They regarded social benefits as strong motivators for active living: being together, making friends, and having fun together. However, the social network could also demotivate through negative peer judgment and negative feedback. Participants were willing to share their own positive experiences and hear about those from close peers and friends but would not share their own (and were not interested in others') negative experiences or personal information. Participants were mainly interested in descriptive norms set by others and obtained inspiration from others for PA. With respect to using ICT for active living, participants stated a preference for social challenges among friends, personalized feedback, goals, activities, and rewards. Competition was seen as less important or even unattractive. If mentioned, participants felt that this should be with friends, or peers of a similar level, with fun being more important than the competition itself.
This study shows that adolescents feel that their social network is and can be a strong driver of active living. They are willing to use ICT-based solutions that make use of social networks for PA as long as these solutions involve their current (close) network and use an approach based on being together and having fun together.
参与有组织的体育运动和其他形式的积极生活方式对青少年和成年人的健康具有重要益处。不幸的是，向中学过渡已被证明是参与的一个障碍。社交网络在激励青少年方面可以发挥重要作用，而信息通信技术（ICT）干预可以增强这一作用。迄今为止，对于青少年自身对积极生活方式的障碍和动机、他们的社交网络在积极生活方式中的作用以及ICT对身体活动（PA）的潜力的看法和感受，我们知之甚少。
本研究旨在深入了解12至14岁青少年对积极生活方式和体育参与、积极生活方式的激励因素和阻碍因素以及他们的社交网络和ICT的潜在作用的看法。
共有26名来自荷兰不同层次中学的12至14岁青少年参加了5个半结构化焦点小组访谈中的1个，在访谈中他们谈论了体育和PA、他们的社交网络、他们对ICT的使用以及社交网络和ICT在PA中的作用。所有访谈均进行了转录，并采用主题定性方法进行分析。
研究表明，所有参与者都有身体活动，尽管向中学过渡使这变得困难，主要是由于时间限制。参与者认为积极的身心健康影响是积极生活方式的重要益处。他们将社交益处视为积极生活方式的强大动力：在一起、交朋友和一起玩耍。然而，社交网络也可能因同伴的负面评价和负面反馈而产生消极影响。参与者愿意分享自己的积极经历，并听取亲密同伴和朋友的经历，但不会分享自己的（也对他人的）负面经历或个人信息。参与者主要对他人设定的描述性规范感兴趣，并从他人那里获得PA的灵感。关于将ICT用于积极生活方式，参与者表示更喜欢朋友之间的社交挑战、个性化反馈、目标、活动和奖励。竞争被认为不太重要甚至没有吸引力。如果提到竞争，参与者觉得应该是与朋友或类似水平的同伴进行，乐趣比竞争本身更重要。
本研究表明，青少年认为他们的社交网络是且可以成为积极生活方式的强大驱动力。只要这些基于ICT的解决方案涉及他们当前的（亲密）网络，并采用基于在一起和一起玩耍的方法，他们就愿意将其用于PA。
