Johnson, Jimmie L2018-10-042018-10-042018-04https://hdl.handle.net/11299/200495Capstone Project, Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Education Degree in the College of Education and Human Service Professions, April 2018. This item has been modified from the original to redact the signatures present.The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how rural youth perceive, experience and make meaning of physical activity in their daily lives. This phenomenological study was guided by Sallis' (2008) social ecological model that served as the framework to conceptualize youth physical activity. Five rural youth ages 11-16 were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences. The analysis of the data revealed four emergent themes that described how the participants perceived, experienced, and made meaning of physical activity in their daily lives: positive physical education experiences; self-efficacy; sedentary behaviors; and family support. Positive physical education experiences played a key role as a way for youth to develop the necessary motor skills that enable them to lead a life-long physically active lifestyle. Self-efficacy was perceived as feeling secure and resourceful in the ability to successfully engage in various forms of physically activity independently or with others. Sedentary behaviors for the participants in this study played a role in their everyday lives, but were not perceived as a barrier to being physically active, perhaps due to high levels of self-efficacy. Family support was perceived as being important, but not always necessary for participants to be physically active. Together, their experiences served as pertinent reminders to those with a vested interest in children's well-being to acknowledge their voices in all aspects of devising interventions.enRural youthPhysical activityCollege of Education and Human Service ProfessionsDepartment of EducationMaster of EducationPlan Cs (coursework-based master's degrees)University of Minnesota DuluthScholarly Text or Essay