Deakin home > Deakin University Library > Deakin Research Online > School day segmented physical activity patterns of high and low active children
Openly accessible

School day segmented physical activity patterns of high and low active children

Fairclough, Stuart J., Beighle, Aaron, Erwin, Heather and Ridgers, Nicola 2012, School day segmented physical activity patterns of high and low active children, BMC public health, vol. 12, no. 406, pp. 1-23.

Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your Deakin Research Online credentials)
Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
ridgers-schooldays-2012.pdf Published version application/pdf 281.21KB 17

Title School day segmented physical activity patterns of high and low active children
Author(s) Fairclough, Stuart J.
Beighle, Aaron
Erwin, Heather
Ridgers, Nicola
Journal name BMC public health
Volume number 12
Issue number 406
Start page 1
End page 23
Total pages 23
Publisher BioMed Central Ltd
Place of publication London, England
Publication date 2012-06-06
ISSN 1471-2458
Keyword(s) Youth
Segments
Multi-level analyses
Accelerometer
Vigorous physical activity
Moderate physical activity
Summary Background

Variability exists in children's activity patterns due to the association with environmental, social, demographic, and inter-individual factors. This study described accelerometer assessed physical activity patterns of high and low active children during segmented school week days whilst controlling for potential correlates.
Methods

Two hundred and twenty-three children (mean age: 10.7 +/- 0.3 yrs, 55.6% girls, 18.9% overweight/obese) from 8 north-west England primary schools wore ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers for 7 consecutive days during autumn of 2009. ActiGraph counts were converted to minutes of moderate (MPA), vigorous (VPA) and moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) physical activity. Children were classified as high active (HIGH) or low active (LOW) depending on the percentage of week days they accumulated at least 60 minutes of MVPA. Minutes spent in MPA and VPA were calculated for school time and non-school time and for five discrete school day segments (before-school, class time, recess, lunchtime, and after-school). Data were analysed using multi-level modelling.
Results

The HIGH group spent significantly longer in MPA and/or VPA before-school, during class time, lunchtime, and after-school (P < .05), independent of child and school level factors. The greatest differences occurred after-school (MPA = 5.5 minutes, VPA = 3.8 minutes, P < 0.001). MPA and VPA were also associated with gender, BMI z-score, number of enrolled children, playground area per student, and temperature, depending on the segment analysed. The additive effect of the segment differences was that the HIGH group accumulated 12.5 minutes per day more MVPA than the LOW group.
Conclusions

HIGH active children achieved significantly more MPA and VPA than LOW active during four of the five segments of the school day when analyses were adjusted for potential correlates. Physical activity promotion strategies targeting low active children during discretionary physical activity segments of the day, and particularly via structured after-school physical activity programs may be beneficial.
Notes This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Language eng
Field of Research 110699 Human Movement and Sports Science not elsewhere classified
Socio Economic Objective 920412 Preventive Medicine
HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
Copyright notice ©2012, Fairclough et al.
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30046205

Connect to link resolver
 
Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in Deakin Research Online is owned by the author, with all rights reserved.

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.

Versions
Version Filter Type
Citation counts: TR Web of Science Citation Count  Cited 2 times in TR Web of Science
Scopus Citation Count Cited 2 times in Scopus
Access Statistics: 19 Abstract Views, 20 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics
Created: Tue, 24 Jul 2012, 13:58:34 EST by Jane Moschetti