Open Collections

Koziol, Alyssa Victoria

University of British Columbia

Purpose: Physical inactivity in children and adolescents have reached alarming levels worldwide, which is concerning because physical activity levels acquired during childhood transition into adolescence and adulthood and play a part in decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, limited research has been done using thigh-worn accelerometry, such as the activPAL™ to examine children and adolescent’s movement and postural patterns over the 24-hour day. The overreaching goal of this thesis was to examine whether day of the week, age, sex, and maturation impact physical activity, posture, and sleep (assessed from time in bed, TIB) in elementary and middle school students using the thigh-worn activPAL™. Study Design: 346 children and adolescents were recruited from English and French medium schools within School District 23 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. A total of 248 children (10.9  1.1 y, 67 females) and adolescents (13.6  0.8 y, 102 females) had valid weekday (4 days of 24-hour wear time) data and 244 had valid weekend day (1 day of 24 hour wear time) activPAL™ data. Somatic variables were used to calculate age at peak height velocity as a marker of maturation. Day of the week differences in absolute and relative (relative to the duration of the waking day) activity behaviours, posture and TIB were compared by age and sex and by maturation and sex using analyses of variance (ANOVA). Results: When data are expressed relative to waking hours and compared by maturation rather than school age, males sit more than females (P< 0.05) but are not more physically active than females. Prepubertal youngsters sit less and stand less than their pubertal counterparts (P <0.05). In all activity behaviours, as well as posture, and sleep, there were notable differences between the weekday and the weekend day. Conclusion: This study shows that when maturation and waking hours are taken into consideration physical activity is not sex specific but sedentary time is. These findings have implications for schools and families, and it is time we rethink how we promote physical activity for youngsters at differing stages of maturation, as well as help youngsters reduce excessive sedentary behaviour.

Text

2021-07-19

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79037

Health and Exercise Sciences

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/