EFFECTS OF SAME-SEX VERSUS COEDUCATIONAL PHYSICAL-EDUCATION ON THE SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF MIDDLE AND HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS

The purpose of this field experiment was to investigate the effects of attending either a coeducational ora same-sex physical education clas s on several self-perception variables. Middle and high school youth w ho had previously been in coeducational classes were assigned to eithe r a same-sex or a new coeducational physical education class for a 10- lesson unit of basketball. Analyses were conducted at both the group a nd the individual levels. Self-perception variables examined included perceived self-confidence of learning basketball, perceived usefulness of basketball, and perceived gender-appropriateness of basketball. Re sults of hierarchical linear model group level analyses indicated that the variability in groups for self-confidence could be explained by g rade, class type, and the interaction between gender and class type. A t the individual level, multivariate results showed that, after the un it, males in coeducational classes were significantly more confident i n their ability to learn basketball than males in same-sex classes. Al so, males in same-sex classes decreased in confidence from pretreatmen t to posttreatment. Perceived usefulness of basketball emerged as the strongest predictor of self-confidence for learning basketball for bot h genders. In general, middle school students preferred same-sex class es, whereas high school students preferred coeducational classes.