Understanding endurance running performance in Japanese high school KOSEN students: Psychometric Approach

Abstract

Background. Endurance running, commonly included physical education (PE) classes in Japanese high schools, has been unpopular. Partly, it is an individually oriented sport that tends to push students to run at full speed, resulting in a state of "mental isolation. " Non-athletic students, in particular, are discouraged as they are more likely to feel pressured to match the pace of their athletic peers during endurance running. In this study, endurance running performance of Japanese high school students including both athletes and non-athletes was evaluated using psychometric surveys. Materials & Methods. A total of 45 male high school students (Height: 169.7 ± 5.0 cm; Weight: 59.2 ± 9.9 kg) participated in outdoor running tests during their PE classes. Prior to running, students took two psychometric surveys with a question about motivation toward running: Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI-J) which measures the Big Five dimensions (extraversion/introversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness) and Short Grit (Grit-S) which measures perseverance and passion. The students ran a 1500 m on a track, and their finishing times were recorded. Finishing times, motivation, and each psychometric survey were analyzed using multiple linear regression (MLR) analyses. Results. The TIPI-J results indicated that those who had faster running times tended to have more conscientiousness (p = 0.02) extraversion (p = 0.02), and less openness (p = 0.02) (F [5, 39] = 4.57, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.37). The Grit-S results showed faster finish times were statistically associated with greater perseverance (p = 0.001) (F [2,42] = 5.86, p = 0.006, R2 = 0.22). Motivation was also significantly associated with running time (p = 0.01) (F[1,43] = 12.33, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.22). Conclusions. Motivation, perseverance, conscientiousness, and extraversion led to more positive running performance. Using these findings based on psychometric surveys, teachers can encourage those who dislike endurance running to run better by emphasizing the need to keep practicing and improving their performance, rather than finish times, until they have become more comfortable, confident and motivated.