Correlates of intensity-specific physical activity in children aged 9–11 years: a multilevel analysis of UK data from the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment

Abstract

ObjectivesPhysical activity (PA) can provide numerous physical and psychological health gains, yet a low proportion of children in England are sufficiently active to accrue benefit. Analysing the correlates of PA from a socioecological perspective may help to identify factors that promote versus discourage PA. The purpose of the present study was to: (1) assess the relationships between a wide range of potential correlates and intensity-specific PA and (2) explore which correlates are associated with meeting government PA guidelines.Design, setting and participantsCross-sectional study on children aged 9–11 years from the South West of England (n=425; 183 males).Outcome measuresA mixture of self-reported and objective measures (eg, body mass index (BMI), accelerometer-derived PA, self-reported sport participation, etc) were collected from child participants, parents and school teachers. After adjusting for covariates (ie, age, sex and accelerometer wear time), multilevel modelling techniques were employed to examine the relationships between potential correlates and light-intensity, moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity PA, as measured with an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer. Generalised linear mixed modelling was used to analyse the correlates associated with government-recommended levels of PA.ResultsComputer use shared a negative association whereas parent support for PA showed a positive relationship with light-intensity PA. In terms of moderate-intensity PA, computer use and BMI z-score shared a negative association whereas positive relationships were found for sport participation, active transport and for outdoor time after school. Children at schools with 25%–49% of pupils attending school sport/PA clubs did more moderate-intensity PA than those attending schools with lower participation rates. For vigorous-intensity PA, a negative relationship was observed for BMI z-score, and positive associations for self-efficacy, active transport, parent support and the presence of crossing guards on routes to school. Correlates associated with meeting the PA guidelines were BMI z-score (negative), sport participation, active transport and outdoor time after school (all positive).ConclusionResults demonstrate that factors pertaining to the individual, home and school environment may play an important role in understanding the correlates of differing PA intensities in children.Trial registration numberNCT01722500.

Evaluation of a Pilot School-Based Physical Activity Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial—Active Schools: Skelmersdale

“…Potential confounding covariates were then added to ‘adjusted’ models whilst still controlling for baseline outcome variables. These potential confounding covariates were selected based on previous research which has deemed them to be influential to the outcomes and depending on the outcome, included gender [ 1 , 64 ], SES [ 65 , 66 ], body size [ 67 , 68 ], CRF [ 69 , 70 ], PA self-efficacy [ 31 ], PA enjoyment [ 31 ], accelerometer wear time, and whole weekday ST and MVPA [ 68 , 71 , 72 ]. Regression coefficients from the models were assessed for significance using the Wald statistic and the following equation, (regression coefficient/standard error) 2 .…”

Daily School Physical Activity Is Associated with Higher Level of Physical Activity Independently of Other Socioecological Factors

“…Socioecological factors that have previously been found to be associated to PA in children [11,[21][22][23] and were available in the POP study was included in the study. According to a socioecological approach, the factors were classified into three domains: biological, social, or environmental [10].…”

Investigating the Impact of Virtual Reality and Gamification on Improving Physical Activities in School

“…However, physical activity for preschool children is vital and the use of an intervention for performing physical activity is signi cant. (Wilkie, Standage, Gillison, Cumming, & Katzmarzyk, 2018) were indicated which factors pertaining to the individual, home and school environment played a vital role in performing physical activity. In other research, parental monitoring as a positive determinant to change physical activity behavior and role of neighborhood economic context on physical activity was searched by (Hesketh et al, 2017;Kim & Cubbin, 2017).…”