Exploring Strategies Adopted by Adolescent Girls for Continuing Sports Activities

Physical activity maintenance is an active process that requires active use of strategies and techniques for its maintenance. The present study was designed to understand these strategies from the viewpoints of adolescent girls, who are often significantly less physically active than their male counterparts. This study was a qualitative content analysis conducted through semi-structured interviews with 25 participants (16 adolescent girls, 7 mothers and two fathers). Data gathering was continued until data saturation. All the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and finally were analyzed by conventional content analysis using OneNote. The Strategy of "strive for perfection", with categories of reviewing experiences and thoughtful decision making and activity, was the dominant strategy used by adolescent girls to continue their sport activities. Adolescent girls in the recent study facilitated the continuation of their sports activities through using cognitive and behavioral strategies appropriate to their conditions. Therefore, it seems that paying attention to creating conditions for adolescents to have their own choices, decisions and strategies is useful in the continuation of sports activities.