Elsevier

Health & Place

Volume 17, Issue 5, September 2011, Pages 1105-1112
Health & Place

Do children's individual correlates of physical activity differ by home setting?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2011.05.013Get rights and content

Abstract

We investigated whether physical activity (PA) correlates differed for 9–10 year-old British children living in urban, suburban and rural settings.

We analysed cross-sectional data on 1653 children (SPEEDY study). Exposure variables were self-reported, whilst PA was measured using Actigraph accelerometers. Data were analysed using multilevel hierarchical regression models, stratified by home setting.

PA levels did not differ by home setting. Boys, those of normal weight and those having a preference for PA had higher PA levels in all strata, but additional correlates were identified within each setting.

These results highlight the potential importance of tailoring interventions to specific environmental and population strata.

Highlights

► Children's PA did not differ by urban, suburban and rural home setting. ► Some common correlates of PA (sex, weight status and PA preference) were identified. ► Additional correlates of PA were found within each home setting. ► Physical activity promotion efforts may need to be context-specific.

Introduction

Physical activity in children is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease (Brage et al., 2004), increased psychological well-being (Mutrie and Parfitt, 1998) and normal skeletal development (Dietz, 1998). Current recommendations state that children and adolescents should be active for at least 60 min on all days of the week, but evidence suggests that few meet these recommendations (Andersen et al., 2006, Dollman et al., 2005). Moreover, a decline in physical activity is observed when progressing from childhood to adolescence (Nader et al., 2008). Public health efforts are therefore directed towards increasing physical activity in children and adolescents and preventing an age-related decline (US Secretary of Health and Human Services & US Secretary of Education (2006)). However, interventions have generally met with limited success (van Sluijs et al., 2007). To successfully develop and target physical activity promotion strategies in children and adolescents, a thorough understanding of correlates and determinants of physical activity is needed.

Most studies addressing factors influencing childrens' physical activity have targeted demographic, biological, social and psychological correlates of physical activity. The most researched correlates are sex, age, socioeconomic status and parental and peer influences (Sallis et al., 2000, Van Der Horst et al., 2007). In line with the ecological model of physical activity behaviour (Sallis and Owen, 2004), the focus has recently shifted towards environmental correlates of physical activity (Davison and Lawson, 2006). For example, higher levels of children's physical activity have been found to be associated with low traffic density, the presence of sidewalks and availability of public transport (Davison and Lawson, 2006, Santos et al., 2009). One key environmental factor may be the child's home settting. Whilst a recent systematic review investigating differences in physical activity levels between children and adolescents living in urban and rural areas showed no major differences (Sandercock et al., 2010), the authors suggest that the types of physical activity undertaken may differ and stress the need for a trilateral division, further distinguishing between urban, suburban and rural areas (Sandercock et al., 2010).

The potential correlates of physical activity and their association with physical activity may vary between urban and rural areas. However, few studies have addressed this issue (Ferreira et al., 2007). Two previous studies investigated the prevalence of potential correlates of child and adolescent physical activity across urban and rural areas in Cyprus (Loucaides, 2009, Loucaides et al., 2004). The first showed that the prevalence of environmental correlates such as access to home exercise equipment and neighbourhood safety differed for children attending rural and urban schools (Loucaides et al., 2004), whereas the second identified both locational and sex differences in the prevalence of personal, social and environmental physical activity correlates (Loucaides, 2009). In particular, girls living in rural areas tended to report less favourable scores on a number of correlates, such as peer support, self-efficacy or enjoyment of physical activity. To our knowledge, only one study actually investigated differences in associations with self-reported physical activity across urban and rural areas (Loucaides et al., 2007). In this large study of Canadian adolescents, various common correlates were identified across the settings, such as sex (with girls being less active than boys), self-efficacy and interest in organised group activities. However, setting-specific correlates were also identified. Perceptions of health and active travel to school were found to be positively associated with physical activity in urban areas only, whereas hours of doing homework or part-time work and taking a physical education class were positively associated in rural areas (Loucaides et al., 2007). This work highlights the need for further investigation of the potential unique physical activity correlates in different environments.

In this study we explored whether levels and individual correlates of objectively measured physical activity differ for urban, suburban (including small towns) and rural British school children. Our analysis was based on the social–ecological model of health behaviour, which recognises the interrelatedness of social and physical elements of human–environment interactions that may influence health activities (Stokols, 1996). The model we adopted proposes that intrapersonal, social and physical environmental factors are all likely to play a part in physical activity participation (Ball, 2006). Therefore potential differences between urban, suburban and rural home locations were investigated in our analysis by drawing on population-based, objectively measured physical activity data, parental and child questionnaires measuring postulated psychological and perceived socio-cultural and environmental correlates, and indicators of the physical environment.

Section snippets

Study population and measurement procedures

The Sport, Physical activity and Eating behaviour: Environmental Determinants in Young people (SPEEDY) study is a population-based study set in Norfolk, England, investigating individual and collective factors associated with physical activity and dietary behaviour in 9/10 year-old (Year 5) schoolchildren. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University of East Anglia local research ethics committee. Parental written consent and child assent were obtained prior to data

Results

A total of N=1653 children (80.0%) were included in the present analyses. Participants were excluded because of a lack of valid physical activity data (N=376), missing data on home location (N=32) or both (N=3). Excluded participants were on average less physically active (648.8 cpm vs. 677.3 cpm, p<0.02) and lived in less deprived areas (p<0.009).

Table 2 shows descriptive statistics for the exposure and outcome variables for all included participants, stratified by urban, suburban and rural

Discussion

This study set out to explore whether levels and self-reported correlates of objectively measured physical activity differ for urban, suburban and rural British school children. Data from this large, population-based British study of 9–10 year old schoolchildren with objectively measured physical activity, showed no significant differences in the level of physical activity by home setting, supporting findings from a recently conducted systematic review (Sandercock et al., 2010). Furthermore,

Conclusion

This study investigated differences in levels and individual correlates of physical activity between 9–10 year old urban and non-urban school children. No differences in physical activity levels were observed, but correlates of physical activity did differ between settings. These differences merit consideration, and may help inform future intervention development and tailoring.

Future research should aim to further investigate differences in correlates and determinants of child and adolescent

Acknowledgements

  • 1.

    The SPEEDY study is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative (http://www.npri.org.uk), consisting of the following Funding Partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Department of Health; Diabetes UK; Economic and Social Research Council; Medical Research Council; Health and Social Care Research and Development Office for the Northern Ireland; Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health Directorates; Welsh Assembly Government and World Cancer Research Fund.

  • 2.

    The

References (38)

  • Communities and Local Government

    The English Indices of Deprivation 2007

    (2007)
  • K. Corder et al.

    Invited commentary: physical activity over the life course—whose behavior changes, when, and why?

    Am. J. Epidemiol.

    (2009)
  • K. Davison et al.

    Do attributes in the physical environment influence children's physical activity? A review of the literature

    Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act.

    (2006)
  • W.H. Dietz

    Health consequences of obesity in youth: childhood predictors of adult disease

    Pediatrics

    (1998)
  • J. Dollman et al.

    Evidence for secular trends in children's physical activity behaviour

    Br. J. Sports Med.

    (2005)
  • U. Ekelund et al.

    Physical activity assessed by activity monitor and doubly labeled water in children

    Med. Sci. Sports Exercise

    (2001)
  • I. Ferreira et al.

    Environmental correlates of physical activity in youth—a review and update

    Obes. Rev.

    (2007)
  • K.R. Fox et al.

    Charting the physical activity patterns of contemporary children and adolescents

    Proc. Nutr. Soc.

    (2000)
  • E.B. Kelly et al.

    Correlates of physical activity in black, Hispanic, and white middle school girls

    J. Phys. Act. Health

    (2010)
  • Cited by (15)

    • Psychometric properties of questionnaires to measure social ecological influences in Vietnamese children

      2019, Sports Medicine and Health Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      Previous studies using the self-efficacy, perceived social influences and beliefs scales had response options in either a 5-point or a 3-point Likert scale; however, these were usually conducted among those in middle schools.10,11,20,21 Our study, along with other studies among elementary students, followed the original study using a yes/no option.7–9,22 The loss of variability is acceptable to account for the children's cognitive development.23

    • Health Psychology in Childhood

      2015, International Encyclopedia of the Social &amp; Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition
    • Movement Behaviour and Health Outcomes in Rural Children: A Systematic Review

      2023, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text