Daily physical activity and sports participation among children from ethnic minorities in Denmark

Abstract

This file was dowloaded from the institutional repository Brage NIH -brage.bibsys.no/nih Nielsen, G., Hermansen, B., Bugge, A., Dencker, M., Andersen, L. B. (2013).Daily physical activity and sports participation among children from ethnic minorities in Denmark. AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Danish children from immigrant backgrounds are less physically active than children from the ethnic majority, and to investigate possible reasons for any differences found Methods: Accelerometer measures of physical activity as well as questionnaire data about organized sports, family demography, resources and values were collected from 594 children of whom 60 had other ethnic background than Danish. Data were collected when the children were 6-7 years old and again later when the children where 9-10 years old. Results: It was found that children from immigrant backgrounds were not less physically active than other children when their amounts of daily physical activity was measured by direct objective measures, despite their participation rate in organized sports being much lower. Using multiple logistic regression modelling this study showed that lack of parental experience with organized sports and lack of economic/material resources explained much of the difference in sports participation. Conclusion: Children of immigrant background had significant lower participation in club sports but this did not affect their overall physical activity level.

Exploring the minority–majority gap in sport participation: different patterns for boys and girls?

“…In their study, Dagkas and Hunter (2015) found that compared to working-class immigrants, middle-class immigrants put more weight on their children's sport participation. Research on the role of class and socio-economic resources in explaining the differences in the participation rates of minority and majority groups has, with some exceptions (Dagkas and Hunter 2015;Nielsen et al 2013;Strandbu and Sletten 2006), been sparse. With regard to both minority and majority youth, there remains a need to examine the relationship between sports participation and socio-economic factors.…”

“…The minority-majority gap in sport participation has been illustrated in studies that have been conducted in several European countries: the Netherlands (Elling and Claringbould 2005), the United Kingdom (UK) (Rowe and Champion 2000), Germany (Burrmann, Mutz, and Zender 2015), Switzerland (Adler-Zwahlen, Nagel, and Schlesinger 2017), Finland (Zacheus 2010), Sweden (Elofsson et al 2014;Fundberg 2012;Riksidrottsförbundet 2010), Denmark (Agergaard, Michelsen la Cour, and Gregersen 2016;Nielsen et al 2013) and Norway (Friberg 2005;Myrli and Mehus 2015;Seippel, Strandbu, and Sletten 2011;Strandbu and Sletten 2006). These studies have also demonstrated larger gender differences in sports participation in the minority population than among the majority.…”

Sedentary behaviors, physical activity behaviors, and body fat in 6-year-old children: the Generation R Study

“…Previous studies on the associations between children’s physical activity intensity and adiposity have shown that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, vigorous physical activity in particular, is associated with decreased adiposity [12,38-40]. High levels of physical activity are most often reached during sports activities [41], and the examples stated in our question assessing sports participation (e.g., gymnastics, tennis, and soccer) can be considered moderate-to-vigorous intense activities in this age group [42]. Since percent fat mass is a more accurate measure of body fatness compared to BMI or weight status, associations may be more easily detected with this indicator.…”

“…This discrepancy in findings may be explained by the age difference between their study (8 year old children) and the present study (6 year old children); older children may have spent more years participating in sports, which may result in demonstrable effects on weight status. Furthermore, children aged 8 years may have a higher weekly frequency of sports participation, or may engage in higher intensity levels during sports activities compared with younger children [41,44]. Alternatively, sports participation may be an indicator of an overall healthy lifestyle.…”

“…For 6-year-old children, physical activity guidelines state that children should be active for at least 60 minutes per day at a moderate to vigorous level in order to convey beneficial health effects [23-25]. Since we did not have any information on actual physical activity levels during outdoor play, it is possible that children were not physically active enough during outdoor play to find any effects on children’s body fat [41]. A recent study among 4- to 5-year-old preschool children suggests that children playing outdoor spend under 21% of time in moderate to vigorous physical activity [46].…”