ReviewTracking of sedentary behaviours of young people: A systematic review☆
Introduction
The late Jeremy Morris reported more than half a century ago that a sedentary occupation was associated with greater health risk than its more active counterpart (Morris et al., 1953). However, it is not until more recent times that researchers have started to systematically address whether sedentary behaviour, operationally defined as behaviours involving predominantly sitting, have deleterious health consequences. Data from adults show links between sedentary behaviour and all-cause mortality (Dunstan et al., 2010, Katzmarzyk et al., 2009), cardiovascular disease (Katzmarzyk et al., 2009), obesity (Hu et al., 2003), and adverse metabolic profiles (Dunstan et al., 2007). Similar work with young people shows associations with body weight and obesity (Marshall et al., 2004, Vicente-Rodriguez et al., 2008, Hancox et al., 2004), adverse metabolic profiles (Ekelund et al., 2006), and poor fitness in later life (Hancox et al., 2004). These associations can vary in magnitude, can be complex, and may not always be independent of physical activity (Mitchell et al., 2009), but they do suggest that sedentary behaviour is an important area of study and in need of further development.
If reductions in sedentary behaviour prove to be important for health, we need to know more about the behaviour and whether it persists over time. It is likely that some sedentary behaviours, such as TV viewing or recreational computer use, have a strong habitual element, thus are likely to “track” over time, thus providing guidance, and challenges, for interventions designed to reduce such behaviours. Tracking is defined “as a tendency of individuals to maintain their rank or position in a group over time” (Telama, 2009, p. 1). While evidence has been summarised concerning the strength of tracking of physical activity (Telama, 2009, Malina, 1996), there is no review of the tracking of sedentary behaviours. The current paper, therefore, addresses this gap by reporting a systematic review of the tracking of sedentary behaviour from childhood or adolescence.
Section snippets
Methods
This study followed the procedures for a systematic review produced by the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, 2001).
Results
The literature search yielded 6237 titles of potentially relevant articles and 14 papers (21 samples) were considered eligible for this review (see Table 1, Table 2). The majority of studies were conducted in the USA (n = 9). Six studies assessed tracking of sedentary behaviours for boys and girl combined, six assessed tracking separately for boys and girls, and two studies were on girls only. Five studies had a follow-up length of 2 years, three studies had follow-up of 3 years, two studies had 5
Discussion
Sedentary behaviour research is experiencing rapid growth. Papers are now showing potentially important negative health outcomes for various markers of sedentary behaviour, when this is defined as sitting behaviours or an aggregate measure of total sedentary time. As a result, researchers in this field need to identify correlates of sedentary behaviour, including to what extent such behaviours are stable over time. The current review sought to identify the nature and strength of tracking of
Conclusion
Overall, sedentary behaviour does show some stability over time. Clearly, tracking will weaken with time, but there is evidence that different sedentary behaviours, and sedentary behaviour determined by accelerometry, will track during childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. There was little evidence for any gender differences in tracking, and most studies combined the assessment for boys and girls.
Tracking values for TV viewing appear to be slightly larger than for physical activity, but
Conflict of interest statement
The authors have no competing interests.
References (36)
- et al.
Links between parents' and girls' television viewing behaviors: a longitudinal examination
J Pediatr
(2005) - et al.
Association between child and adolescent television viewing and adult health: a longitudinal birth cohort study
Lancet
(2004) - et al.
Tracking of activity and sedentary behaviors in childhood: The Iowa Bone Development Study
Am J Prev Med
(2005) - et al.
A descriptive epidemiology of screen-based media use in youth: a review and critique
J Adolescence
(2006) - et al.
Coronary heart disease and physical activity of work
Lancet, ii
(1953) - et al.
Naturally occurring changes in time spent watching television are inversely related to frequency of physical activity during early adolescence
J Adolescence
(2006) - et al.
Television viewing and hypertension in obese children
Am J Prev Med
(2007) - et al.
Television watching, videogames, and excess of body fat in Spanish adolescents: the AVENA study
Nutrition
(2008) - et al.
Television viewing in early childhood predicts adult body mass index
J Pediatr
(2005) - et al.
Tracking of physical activity and inactivity in middle school girls
Med Sci Sports Exer
(2008)
One-year changes in activity and in inactivity among 10- to 15-year-old boys and girls: relationship to change in body mass index
Pediatrics
Is television viewing a suitable marker of sedentary behavior in young people?
Ann Behav Med
Measurement of television viewing in children and adolescents: a systematic review
Obes Rev
Statistical power for the behavioral sciences
Synthesizing Research: A Guide for Literature Reviews
Do interventions to limit sedentary behaviours change behaviour and reduce childhood obesity? A critical review of the literature
Obes Rev
Association of television viewing with fasting and 2-hr post-challenge plasma glucose levels in adults without diagnosed diabetes
Diab. Care
Television viewing time and mortality: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab)
Circulation
Cited by (469)
Sedentary behavior
2023, Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health, First EditionThe cross-sectional and prospective associations of parental practices and environmental factors with 24-hour movement behaviours among school-aged Asian children
2024, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical ActivityAdherence to 24-h movement behaviour guidelines in families with multiple children
2024, Child: Care, Health and Development
- ☆
The work was performed at the School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK.