Table 5 Perceived barriers to physical activity among university students in Kuwait by obesity status (non-obese = 93 men, 253 women; obese = 110 men, 74 women)
Barriers | Obesity status | Men (N = 203) | P value | Women (N = 327) | P value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Very imp (%) | S. imp (%) | Not imp (%) | Very imp (%) | S. imp (%) | Not imp (%) | ||||
A. Personal barriers to physical activity | |||||||||
1. Do not have motivation to do physical activity, exercise or sport | Non-obese | 9.7 | 22.6 | 67.7 | 0.0270 | 10.7 | 52.2 | 37.1 | 0.5655 |
Obese | 16.4 | 34.5 | 49.1 | 14.9 | 47.3 | 37.8 | |||
2. Not enjoying physical activity, exercise or sport | Non-obese | 6.5 | 18.8 | 81.7 | 0.0053 | 9.9 | 31.6 | 58.5 | 0.5697 |
Obese | 14.5 | 24.5 | 61.0 | 13.5 | 33.8 | 52.7 | |||
3. Do not have the skills to do physical activity, exercise or sport | Non-obese | 6.5 | 16.1 | 77.4 | 0.0121 | 11.4 | 35.6 | 49.0 | 0.0928 |
Obese | 15.5 | 26.4 | 58.1 | 17.6 | 40.5 | 41.9 | |||
B. Social support barriers to physical activity | |||||||||
1. No parent’s support to be physically active | Non-obese | 12.9 | 21.5 | 65.6 | 0.7813 | 18.2 | 28.5 | 53.4 | 0.0928 |
Obese | 16.4 | 20.0 | 63.6 | 13.5 | 18.9 | 67.6 | |||
2. No friend’s support to be physically active | Non-obese | 11.8 | 21.5 | 66.7 | 0.5286 | 18.6 | 34.0 | 47.4 | 0.2205 |
Obese | 15.5 | 25.5 | 59.1 | 17.6 | 24.3 | 58.1 | |||
3. No teacher’s support to be physically active | Non-obese | 29.0 | 21.5 | 49.5 | 0.6446 | 27.3 | 28.1 | 44.6 | 0.1141 |
Obese | 30.0 | 26.4 | 43.6 | 39.2 | 27.0 | 33.8 | |||
C. Environmental barriers to physical activity | |||||||||
1. Do not have enough information about how to increase physical activity | Non-obese | 18.3 | 22.6 | 59.1 | 0.0617 | 17.0 | 43.1 | 39.9 | 0.3342 |
Obese | 32.0 | 62.0 | 107 | 59.0 | 33.8 | 44.6 | |||
2. Not having access to places to do physical activity, exercise or sport | Non-obese | 22.6 | 22.5 | 54.9 | 0.1727 | 23.3 | 36.8 | 39.9 | 0.7720 |
Obese | 12.7 | 27.3 | 60.0 | 28.4 | 33.8 | 37.8 | |||
3. Not being able to find physical activity facilities that are inexpensive | Non-obese | 16.1 | 25.8 | 58.1 | 0.7342 | 19.0 | 37.5 | 43.5 | 0.2534 |
Obese | 20.0 | 22.7 | 57.3 | 27.0 | 37.8 | 35.2 | |||
4. Not having time to be physically active | Non-obese | 31.2 | 34.4 | 34.4 | 0.0839 | 26.5 | 27.7 | 15.8 | 0.0552 |
Obese | 43.6 | 34.5 | 21.9 | 51.4 | 40.5 | 8.1 | |||
5. Feeling shy when practising exercise out door | Non-obese | 7.5 | 19.4 | 73.1 | 0.4710 | 11.9 | 21.7 | 66.4 | 0.0476 |
Obese | 12.7 | 17.3 | 70.0 | 20.3 | 28.3 | 51.4 | |||
6. The climate is not suitable for practising exercise | Non-obese | 31.2 | 43.6 | 25.8 | 0.3261 | 59.3 | 30.0 | 10.7 | 0.8174 |
Obese | 39.1 | 42.7 | 18.2 | 56.8 | 33.8 | 9.4 | |||
7. Not being able to practise physical activity due to cultural factors | Non-obese | 10.8 | 8.6 | 80.6 | 0.3904 | 25.3 | 29.2 | 45.5 | 0.9915 |
Obese | 13.6 | 13.6 | 72.8 | 25.7 | 29.7 | 44.6 | |||
8. Do not have enough money to enrol with physical activity club | Non-obese | 9.7 | 14.0 | 76.3 | 0.3246 | 9.1 | 22.5 | 66.4 | 0.6062 |
Obese | 7.9 | 33.6 | 71.0 | 10.8 | 27.0 | 62.2 | |||