Girls exercise better without boys

Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 2, 2005 by Nanci Hellmich

High school girls are more likely to exercise vigorously if they're in girls-only gym classes offering activities such as dancing, aerobics and brisk walking, according to a new study in September's American Journal of Public Health.

Public health officials are concerned by other research showing that girls become much less physically active during their teen years. Many don't exercise at all by the time they reach 18 or 19 -- yet children should be active at least an hour a day, according to government guidelines.

Russell Pate, professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, says girls long have been given exercise classes designed more for boys, and "a lot of them don't like it very much."

During the 1950s, '60s and early '70s, girls and boys usually were separated in junior high and high school programs, but "after Title IX was put into place by the mid-70s, coed physical education became the more common approach," says Judy Young of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, a professional organization that includes teachers, researchers and administrators.

(Source: Chicago Sun Times)