The meaning of movement in the everyday lives of Danish high school students: A phenomenological study exploring existential well-being as “dwelling mobility”

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Health-promoting initiatives focusing on physical activity include advice on integrating active behaviour into everyday activities pointing to a tendency to combine a health agenda with other agendas. From a public-health perspective, this might be a valuable strategy, but it calls for a conceptual awareness and exploration of the target groups’ perceptions of this broader concept of physical activity. Nested in a Danish intervention study aimed at increasing well-being among high-school students aged 16–17 through the promotion of movement, this study engages in a conceptual exploration of ‘movement in everyday lives’ related to well-being. Combining participant observation and photo-elicitation interviews, the study investigates different kinds of meaning experienced in relation to movement. Theoretically, the study is framed by existential phenomenology with a focus on corporeality, temporality and intersubjectivity. An existential theory of well-being is applied to a discussion of the relationship between bodily movement and well-being. The findings point to movement as a way for students to balance two existential modes within the dimensions of corporeality, temporality and intersubjectivity: one of activity and tenseness, and one of break and stillness. For the students, movement entails bodily experiences ranging from modes of self-forgetfulness to the body demanding attention in different ways; they experience movement as a break from everyday obligations, but also as a way of moving forward; and they experience movement as an occasion for being social and for withdrawing from the social worlds.
Original languageEnglish
JournalQualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
Volume13
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)488-506
Number of pages19
ISSN2159-676X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - Movement, Well-being, High school students, Health promotion, Existential phenomenology

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