Citation

McCormack GR, Giles-Corti B, Timperio A, Wood G, Villanueva KP. Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act. 2011; 8(1): 30.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1479-5868-8-30

PMID

21486475

PMCID

PMC3083320

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children who participate in regular physical activity obtain health benefits. Preliminary pedometer-based cut-points representing sufficient levels of physical activity among youth have been established; however limited evidence regarding correlates of achieving these cut-points exists. The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of pedometer-based cut-points among elementary school-aged children. METHOD: A cross-section of children in grades 5-7 (10-12 years of age) were randomly selected from the most (n=13) and least (n=12) 'walkable' public elementary schools (Perth, Western Australia), stratified by socioeconomic status. Children (n=1480; response rate=56.6%) and parents (n=1332; response rate=88.8%) completed a survey, and steps were collected from children using pedometers. Pedometer data were categorized to reflect the sex-specific pedometer-based cut-points of >=15000 steps/day for boys and >=12000 steps/day for girls. Associations between socio-demographic characteristics, sedentary and active leisure-time behavior, independent mobility, active transportation and built environmental variables - collected from the child and parent surveys - and meeting pedometer-based cut-points were estimated (odds ratios: OR) using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: Overall 927 children participated in all components of the study and provided complete data. On average, children took 11407+/-3136 steps/day (boys: 12270+/-3350 vs. girls: 10681+/-2745 steps/day; p<0.001) and 25.9% (boys: 19.1 vs. girls: 31.6%; p<0.001) achieved the pedometer-based cut-points. After adjusting for all other variables and school clustering, meeting the pedometer-based cut-points was negatively associated (p<0.05) with being male (OR=0.42), parent self-reported number of different destinations in the neighborhood (OR 0.93), and a friend's (OR 0.62) or relative's (OR 0.44, boys only) house being at least a 10-minute walk from home. Achieving the pedometer-based cut-points was positively associated with participating in screen-time <2 hours/day (OR 1.88), not being driven to school (OR 1.48), attending a school located in a high SES neighborhood (OR 1.33), the average number of steps among children within the respondent's grade (for each 500 step/day increase: OR 1.29), and living further than a 10-minute walk from a relative's house (OR 1.69, girls only). CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive multi-level interventions that reduce screen-time, encourage active travel to/from school and foster a physically active classroom culture might encourage more physical activity among children.

Language: en