Every Minute Counts: Patterns and Times of Physical Activity Participation in Children From Socially Disadvantaged Areas in Ireland

Sarahjane Belton, Gavin Breslin, Stephen Shannon, wesley o'brien, Ben Fitzpatrick, Tandy Haughey, Fiona Chambers, Danielle Powell, Darryl Mc Cullagh, Deirdre Brennan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
246 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate daily physical activity (PA) patterns of 8- to 9-year-old Irish children from socially disadvantaged areas. Methods: Children (N = 408) were asked to wear an ActiGraph accelerometer for a minimum of 4 days. Based on mean daily moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA accumulation, participants were grouped into sex-specific quartiles (Q4, most active; Q1, least active). Principal component analysis was used to identify distinct time blocks for weekdays and weekend days. Results: Overall, 213 participants (8.7 [0.5] y) met accelerometer inclusion criteria. Of these, 56.7% met the 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA per day guidelines, with males statistically significantly more likely to do so than females (P < .01). Principal component analysis revealed 3 distinct time periods on weekdays and 4 distinct periods on weekends that children were active. The total difference in moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA accumulation between Q4 (most active) and Q1 (least active) was greatest in the after-school time period (male: 49 min and female: 33 min) on weekdays and in the evening time period on weekends (male: 33 min and female: 19 min). Conclusions: After-school and weekend evenings are critical "activity rich" time periods in terms of the gap between our most and least active disadvantaged children.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)333-339
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Activity and Health
Volume16
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 1 May 2019

Keywords

  • health
  • monitoring
  • time period
  • weekday
  • weekend
  • socioeconomic status

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