Research articleAdolescent Patterns of Physical Activity: Differences by Gender, Day, and Time of Day
Introduction
Little is known about temporal changes in adolescent physical activity, as well as specific types of activity or gender differences that may exist in these patterns.1, 2 Middle-school boys have been found to be more active than girls during physical education,3 and to engage in more vigorous activity,4 but other findings have been mixed.5, 6 Although lower levels of objectively measured physical activity have been observed in adolescents during weekend versus weekdays in both genders,7 more precise information is needed on the duration, intensity, and types of activities that may help explain possible gender differences, as well as the possible role of adiposity. As adult activity patterns have been shown to vary by day,8 establishing whether similar differences are present among adolescents could aid the design of future interventions. The purpose of this study was to use accelerometry and self-report diaries to evaluate gender or body mass index (BMI) differences in physical activity levels and patterns, by day and time of day, among eighth-grade adolescents.
Section snippets
Participants
One hundred adolescents (53 girls, 47 boys), which allowed comparison with previous studies,9 were recruited from the eighth grade of an ethnically diverse middle school in Texas in fall 2002. Complete data for the 81 participants (described below) are presented. The Baylor College of Medicine Institutional Review Board approved this study, and written informed parental consent was obtained for all participants.
Measures and Procedure
Height was measured without shoes to the nearest 0.1 cm twice using a stadiometer
Results
Eighteen subjects were excluded due to problematic MTI data, and one subject was excluded due to problematic PDPAR data. Data for the remaining 81 subjects are reported. Of these subjects, the MTI was worn an average 86.1% (standard deviation [SD]=6.7) of the day between 6:00 am and midnight.
Fifty-four percent of the sample was female, with a mean age of 13.3 (SD=0.5) years. The sample was ethnically diverse with 44% Anglo-American, 26% Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 17% other ethnic
Discussion
The current study examined gender differences in intensity and specific type of activity by day of the week and time of day. Accelerometer results revealed that boys were less sedentary than girls, especially during the late afternoon period of the day on Thursday and Saturday, and had higher levels of moderate/vigorous activity during the late afternoon period on every day except Sunday. Boys were also less sedentary than girls on Saturday evenings, and showed higher levels of
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No financial conflict of interest was reported by the authors of this paper.