Biological Maturation and Physical Activity among Female Adolescents in Mazandaran, Iran, in 2017: Moderating role of social support

Biological maturation is a potential factor for the variance of physical activity in adolescents. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the major and moderating effects of biological maturation status and social support on the physical activity level of female adolescents using the biocultural model of maturity-associated variance in physical activity as a conceptual framework.
Material and 630 female middle school students of Mazandaran province, Iran, selected through random multistage cluster sampling. The data were collected using the adult stature estimation, demographic form, social support questionnaire, and pedometer. Data analysis was performed using SPSS23 and PLS2 softwares.
The results suggest that there was a significant inverse relation between biological maturation and physical activity (r=-0.289, P Social support may reduce the negative role of early maturation on physical activity. Parental interpretation of changes associated with puberty and encouragement of the adolescents to accept it as a positive and natural event (no obstacle to physical activity) may play a more important role in the reduction of any negative effects associated with early maturation on physical activity.