Family influence on the motivation of higher education students to engage in physical culture and sports

The purpose of the research is to determine the peculiarities of family influence on the motivation of higher education students to engage in physical culture and sports. Material and methods of the research. The following methods were used in the research: analysis and synthesis of scientific and methodological literature; method of sociological survey (questionnaire); and methods of mathematical statistics. The questionnaire was provided to higher education applicants in electronic format in the form of a Form using the tools of the Google service. Results of the research. A significant number of students (53,8%) engage in physical activity with their parents, but almost half don’t (46,2%). The most common types of joint physical activity are gym visits (32,7%), recreational running (30,9%), recreational walking and swimming (25,5%), and also morning hygienic gymnastics (20%). The majority of respondents engage in joint physical activity with their parents twice (27,8%) or three times a week (18,5%). At the same time, 24% don’t have a clear regularity of exercise. It is interesting to note that 47,7% of respondents indicated that their parents are interested in their physical fitness, 23,1% indicated that their parents aren’t interested, and 29.2% were undecided. Conclusions. Family support is an important factor in developing an interest in physical culture. The majority of students who were engaged in physical activity with their parents demonstrated a higher level of motivation and a positive attitude towards physical activity. However, a significant proportion of respondents didn’t engage in physical activity with their parents, which may be the reason for their lack of motivation. At the same time, only some parents show interest in their children’s physical fitness. This indicates the need to intensify work with families to form positive value orientations and involve parents in the promotion of physical culture and sports.