Who children spend time with after school: associations with objectively recorded indoor and outdoor physical activity

Abstract

BackgroundUnderstanding how the determinants of behaviour vary by context may support the design of interventions aiming to increase physical activity. Such factors include independent mobility, time outdoors and the availability of other children. At present little is known about who children spend their time with after school, how this relates to time spent indoors or outdoors and activity in these locations. This study aimed to quantify who children spend their time with when indoors or outdoors and associations with moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA).MethodsParticipants were 427 children aged 10–11 from Bristol, UK. Physical activity was recorded using an accelerometer (Actigraph GT1M) and matched to Global Positioning System receiver (Garmin Foretrex 201) data to differentiate indoor and outdoor location. Children self-reported who they spent time with after school until bed-time using a diary. Each 10 second epoch was coded as indoors or outdoors and for ‘who with’ (alone, friend, brother/sister, mum/dad, other grown-up) creating 10 possible physical activity contexts. Time spent and MVPA were summarised for each context. Associations between time spent in the different contexts and MVPA were examined using multiple linear regression adjusting for daylight, age, deprivation and standardised body mass index.ResultsDuring the after school period, children were most often with their mum/dad or alone, especially when indoors. When outdoors more time was spent with friends (girls: 32.1%; boys: 28.6%) than other people or alone. Regression analyses suggested hours outdoors with friends were positively associated with minutes of MVPA for girls (beta-coefficient [95% CI]: 17.4 [4.47, 30.24]) and boys (17.53 [2.76, 32.31]). Being outdoors with brother/sister was associated with MVPA for girls (21.2 [14.17, 28.25]) but not boys. Weaker associations were observed for time indoors with friends (girls: 4.61 [1.37, 7.85]; boys: (7.42 [2.99, 11.85]) and other adults (girls: 5.33 [2.95, 7.71]; boys: (4.44 [1.98, 6.90]). Time spent alone was not associated with MVPA regardless of gender or indoor/outdoor location.ConclusionsTime spent outdoors with other children is an important source of MVPA after school. Interventions to increase physical activity may benefit from fostering friendship groups and limiting the time children spend alone.

Associations between Parental and Friend Social Support and Children’s Physical Activity and Time Spent outside Playing

“…This finding concurs with findings of a recent study conducted in the UK that, for both boys and girls, being outdoors with a friend had the most important influence on the child's moderate to vigorous PA [19]. Targeting time spent outside, in particular with friends, may be an important intervention component in future studies.…”

Perceptions of the Neighborhood Environment and Children’s Afterschool Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity

“…We found that outdoor physical activity was associated with increases in afterschool MVPA, which is consistent with previous literature. (9, 33) For example, Cleland et al (2008) found that children who spent more time outdoors had higher levels of MVPA. Although our study limited physical activity to afterschool hours, our results are similar; possibly suggesting that the impact of time spent outdoors may not depend on the time of day.…”

Nivel de intensidad de las principales actividades físicas de escolares chilenos: determinación por acelerometría

“…Esto ha cambiado, y según estudios recientes, comparando el diario de actividad con acelerometría en niños o adolescentes, la validez de este instrumento fue calificada de razonable y moderada (19)(20)(21). Otras publicaciones han mostrado que los diarios de actividad pueden aplicarse en estudios con un número importante de sujetos, más de 300 en el trabajo de Pfitzner et al (22) en Alemania y 400 en el de Pearce et al (23) en Inglaterra. Sin abordar el aspecto de la AF diaria o semanal en su totalidad, la técnica del diario nos parece adecuada para el objetivo de nuestro trabajo, que fue establecer el valor acelerométrico específico de cada AF principal de niños escolares, y el valor de algunas actividades menos habituales.…”

“…A este propósito, Pearce et al (23), subrrayaron la importancia del tiempo libre después de la escuela, y la oportunidad existente de elevar el nivel de AF moderada si los escolares, -niñas y niñas-no juegan solos, sino que en grupo con amigos (as) o hermanos (as). Se ha co-TABLA 3…”