Introduction. 14% of students in Polish High Schools declare unwillingness to participate in obligatory physical education. Above 50% of European pupils more than 15 years old do not take physical activity at all. Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the opinions of High School students about participation in PE and the effects of this kind of activity on their self-esteem, BMI and health status. Material and methods. 318 students 16-19 years old accepted the invitation and participated in the study. The average students’ age was 17.9. The group filled in the original questionnaire on PE. After that, health information and self-esteem was obtained. Variables distribution was checked. Chi-square, Spearman test and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Answers response rate was 84.1%. Results and conclusion. Men (20.65%) were significantly more willing to participate in PE than women (9.70%). Women over 18 years old more frequently (27.7%) rated their health as average, bad and very bad than women up to 18 years of age (14%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis (CI:95%) showed that self-assessed health status (SAH), attractiveness of PE, physical fitness level significantly (p<0.05) affect participation in PE, while the degree of difficulty of exercises and participants’ BMI had a highly significant (p<0.001) impact on participation in PE. 77.8% of participants rated the assessment system as unfair. Individual predispositions should be taken into consideration. The study suggests that the studied phenomenon is multifactorial. Self esteem and health assessment influence participation in PE.

Key words: physical education, self esteem, health status assessment.