Macro-environmental factors associated with leisure-time physical activity: A cross-national analysis of EU countries

Abstract

This exploratory study seeks to plead for the need for cross-nationally comparable LTPA data and more sophisticated research in order to understand the role of macro-economic environments, with a special focus on policy-related variables and gender-specific differences.

Macroenvironmental Factors Including GDP per Capita and Physical Activity in Europe

“…National data on economic development (GDP per capita), public sector expenditure on health, number of passenger vehicles per capita, governance, percentage living in urban areas, and percent tertiary educated were sought. With the exception of education, all macroenvironmental variables were selected based on their associations with leisure-time physical activity in the previous pan-European analysis of Van Tuyckom (29). Educational attainment was included based on the finding that at the level of the individual, it was the strongest determinant of leisure-time physical activity across 12 European countries (12).…”

“…Three studies that have done this have each concluded that country gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was strongly associated with national physical activity levels. Two of the studies examining the association between GDP and physical activity levels were conducted in Europe, assessing physical activity in leisure time and the percentage of the population never engaging in exercise or sports, respectively, (26,29). Both of these studies concluded that national physical activity levels were positively associated with country GDP.…”

“…Part of its influence could be effects on micro-or mesolevel environments, with complex interactions and interdependence between the system levels being a likely reality (3). Systematic reviews of the literature show that most research on environmental determinants of physical activity is focused on the micro-and mesolevel environments (6,24,27,30), whereas the macrolevel receives comparatively little attention in the research literature (16,29). As Bronfenbrenner (3) outlines in his ecological systems theory (1977), there is no reason to think that investigation at one system level is inherently any more important than any other.…”

“…In a recent systematic review of the association between physical activity domains and socioeconomic position in Europe, Beenackers (submitted for publication) found those of high socioeconomic position to be more active in their leisure time while low socioeconomic position was associated with greater occupational physical activity. In addition to GDP, a variety of other national variables (governance indicators, public sector expenditure on health, percentage living in urban centers, and the number of passenger cars) have also been strongly associated with physical activity (29). In an ecological systems theory, each of these national variables form part of what could be described as indicators or components of a "macrosystem," which sets the pattems for structures and activities occurring at the micro-and mesolevel environments (3).…”

Physical exercise and social inequality in Norway – A comparison of OLS and quantile regression analysis

“…Yet some of these taken-for-granted assumptions about how age matters are about to change (Hovemann & Wicker, 2009;Vaage, 2009). In terms of levels of activity, recent fi ndings 1 See: Bairner, 2007;Beenackers et al, 2012;Bennett, 2009;Bergman, Grjibovski, Hagströmer, Bauman, & Sjöström, 2008;Bourdieu, 1978;Cachay & Hartmann-Tews, 1998;Crossley, 2006;Dahl & Birkelund, 1999;Danielsen, 1989;Donnelly, 1996;Dølvik, 1990;Dølvik, Danielsen, & Hernes, 1988;Elstad, 2000;Gruneau, 1999;Lüschen, 1984;Morgan, 1994;Scheerder, Vanreusel, & Taks, 2005;Scheerder, Vanreusel, Taks, & Renson, 2002;Stokvis, 2011;Studer, Schlesinger, & Engel, 2011;Sugden & Tomlinson, 2000;Thrane, 2001;Tomlinson, 2004;Vaage, 2009;Van Tuyckom, 2011;Van Tuyckom, Scheerder, & Bracke, 2010;Veenstra, 2007;Warde, 2006;Williams, 1995. indicate that older people are increasingly participating in physical activity (partly due to better health, lower retirement age and better opportunities). Therefore, although I expect to fi nd a negative correlation between physical activities and age for all settings and arenas included in this study, the effect of age is likely to be less pronounced than it was previously.…”