1. Socio-economic status.

Socioeconomic Status (SES) is a sociological and economic total

measure of a persons work experience and also of an individuals or
familys economic and social position in relation to others based upon
education, income and also occupation. A person or family can be
categorized into 3 SES categories, they are low (SES), Middle (SES) or
high (SES). Each category has certain indicators. People in the
category of Low (SES are more likely to have low income, little
education and will have strong predictors of a range of physical and
mental problems. People in the category of middle (SES) encompass
the most of any category of Australian people. People in the category of
high (SES) are associated with high income, high education and are
considered healthy and strong.

What are the three levels of socio economic status?

Low SES vs High SES Scenario
Surfer 1 (Low SES)

Surfer 2 (High SES)

Lives 10 km from the beach and has to wake

up early and catch the b us to the beach as
he has no car. This surfer also cannot afford
a new surfboard, he has a second hand one
he bought from a garage sale.

Lives 5km from the beach and d rives a car to go

surfing, this surfer can check the forecast on their
smart phone whilst still in b ed. They also have a
brand new surf board and a top of the line
wetsuit. The water temperature is around 8
degrees.

He also cannot afford a wetsuit therefore

goes surfing in only shorts. The water
temperature is around 8 degrees. This surfer
stays in the water for 1 hour surfing and
then has to get out of water due to

This surfer stays in the water for 2 h ours surfing

and is fine as he has a wetsuit on.

Write down how these two surfers experiences

would have differed?
How do you rate surfer 1s (Low SES) experience
compared to surfer 2s (High SES)

2. Cultural Background.
Cultural background is the context of ones life experience as shaped
by membership in groups based on ethnicity, race, socioeconomic
status, gender, exceptionalities, language, religion, sexual orientation
and geographical area. Cultural background is a large and diverse
topic and you could teach this topic for a long time therefore this is just
a short sharp introduction in cultural background.
Each country in the world has a culture and this culture has a
background, when someone moves somewhere or has been brought
up in a culture they will often take this culture with them when they
move. For example the Australian culture is very diverse as Australia
has a lot of immigration. The Census revealed that over a quarter (26%)
of Australia's population was born overseas and a further one fifth (20%)
had at least one overseas-born parent, therefore Australia as a
multicultural background. Compare this to Islamic culture where for
example; females cannot swim in front of males as its against their
cultures rules.

List 2 key points about the above information.

What is your cultural background? In a few
sentences or more, explain how your cultural
background and current culture affects the types of
physical activities you engage in.

3. Physical & Environmental Factors

Environmental factors can facilitate or be barrier to physical activity, as
well as factors relating to the physical environment, such as water or
trees or footpaths. Features within the built environment such as
buildings, transport, mix of land use and layout of community facilities,
parklands, walking and cycling trails and recreational facilities all play a
role in physical activity levels. People with recreational facilities and
programs in close proximity to where they live tend to be more active
than people without close access.
Read each of the following case studies and answer the
questions below.
Case Study 1:
Travis lives on Boardwalk Blvd in Point Cook, located in the western
suburbs of Melbourne. Travis goes to school at Point Cook Senior and
plays football for Point Cook Football Club, he also works at the Point
Cook Town Center. Travis has access to multiple parks and walkways,
whilst also having access to multiple recreational physical activity
facilities, all of which are located within a 10-minute walk of his home.
Case Study 2:
Kassandra lives in Papunya located in remote Northern Territory.
Kassandra has travel 50 kilometers by car to school everyday, and zero
access to public transport. Within the town of Papunya there is no
recreational physical activity facilities, and also no available physical
activity programs in which Kassandra can participate. Papunya also
has no organized sporting teams, and for Kassandra to participate in
team sports, she is required to travel over 100 kilometers.

In your group make a 1-2 minute podcast on one of your

mobile phone devices answering the below two questions
(this will be played in the next lesson).
a) How do the different Physical & Environmental factors
influence an individuals ability to participate within physical
activity?
b) Who is at a greater risk of being physically inactive,
Kassandra or Travis? Justify your answer.

4. Individual.
Age is possibly one of the biggest things that will affect access to and
the kinds of physical activities that a person can undertake. It is
accepted that as we age we will become weaker and weaker after
hitting our suggested peak of fitness by the time we are 27. Therefore it
is common to hear people say Im too old to do that! People say this as
they think their body would not be able to cope with the demand that is
set upon them.
Age does not only affect the types of activity someone can do but also
the intensity of the activity. For example; bushwalking for 6 days for a 20
year old could be the equivalent of bushwalking for 1 day for a 60 year
old as they could both have the same output. Age can have a positive
factor on accessing different types of outdoor experiences, For example
for someone that is 17 living in the middle of Victoria there chance of
getting to have a surf is minimal but with increased age (18) they can
drive themselves to the beach therefore age is having a positive effect.
Gender is a range of physical, mental, and behavioural characteristics
distinguishing between masculinity and femininity and in this case
referring to sex (Male and female). This is not taking into account
gender identity. One of the main barriers that is often faced in reference
to gender and outdoor experiences is that the perception of outdoor
experiences and that some experiences are considered masculine
and some are considered feminine. These perceptions greatly
influence participation rates of the respective genders within these
activities.
Self-efficacy is ones confidence in ones ability to perform specific
behaviours in specific situations; self-efficacy is the most consistent
predictor of physical behaviour.

(In a pair or group of three)

Draw an annotated picture that represents what you think
your experience would be like hiking or rock climbing at age
65.
It must refer to the factors of age, gender and self-efficacy,
and how they would affect your ability to perform the hiking
or rock-climbing task at the age of 65.

5. Social Factors.
Social support (peers, spouse, family):
Social support has long been considered the most well established
determinant reinforcing physical activity (Sallis and Owen 1999). Social
support is consistently identified as a key determinant for women of all
age groups.!Social support can be in the form of exercising with
someone, and providing encouragement and praise for being active.
Parental support might include paying fees for competitions or
memberships, paying for equipment, and driving children to training or
competition or to the local park. Parental support may also be in the
form of playing with the child.
Dog ownership:
A large study of non-dog owners conducted in Western Australia
followed their physical activity over time. The study found that the nondog owners who acquired a dog increased their walking by 12minutes
per week (Cutt et al. 2008). A New South Wales study (Bauman et al.
2001) reported that people who owned a dog walked 18 minutes a
week more than non-dog owners. Dogs are considered a form of social
support because they can increase a persons confidence to go for a
walk and decrease their fear of walking alone.

Identify the key social factors that influence and

affect an individuals level of physical activity.
Reflect on your own personal life, and explain
which social factors influence your life the most.