El presente estudio pretendió conocer los niveles de actividad física, de apoyo de familiares y amigos para la práctica y las relaciones entre la actividad y el apoyo, en función del género y el curso de los escolares. Participaron 81 varones y 73 mujeres que cursaban de 3º a 6º curso de educación primaria, con edades entre los 8 y los 13 años (M = 9.82, DE = 1.35). Se llevó a cabo un estudio de caso de tipo epidemiológico conductual, y se administraron los instrumentos: Parent Support Scale, Peer Support Scale y Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children. Los varones realizaron más actividad física (p < .001) y percibieron más apoyo que las mujeres, siendo también superiores las del alumnado de 3º respecto a 6º curso. Existía relación entre la actividad física de las chicas y el apoyo familiar (p < .001) y entre el apoyo de amigos y la actividad física en función de todas las categorías de las variables independientes (p < .05). En conclusión, los varones y los alumnos de 3 er curso realizaron más actividad física y percibían más apoyo que las chicas y que los alumnos de 6º curso, respectivamente, y el apoyo de los amigos estuvo más relacionado con la actividad física que el de los familiares.

Effective physical activity studies are necessary to understand how factors involved in physical activity mediate behaviour. Therefore, more reliable explanatory models can be generated in order to design effective actions to promote physical activity. The study had two aims: (1) to develop an explanatory model to identify and establish the relationships between physical activity, social support and screen time among adolescents; and (2) to contrast the explanatory structural model by means of a multi-group analysis according to sex. The study design was cross-sectional with descriptive and correlational analysis. The research was carried out with a representative sample of adolescents from the province of Soria (mean age 14.06 ± 1.27 years). The instruments used were: Four by One-Day Physical Activity Questionnaire, Parent Support Scale and Peer Support Scale. The results show that social support had a negative relationship with screen time (r = −0.178; p ≤ 0.001); males had a positive relationship between physical activity and screen time (r = 0.118; p ≤ 0.05); and peer support had more influence on social support than parental support. In conclusion, the proposed model was effective in triangulating the relationships between physical activity, social support and screen time in a novel way, while allowing us to discriminate these results according to participants’ sex.

Introduction: Although practicing physical activity according to recommendations has health benefits, many studies have reported that the level of participation is lower than recommended. Methods: In this behavioural epidemiological study, we used a correlational design to determine the contribution made by physical education (PE) classes to daily physical activity in a sample of 694 Spanish adolescents. Physical activity levels were determined using the Four by One-Day Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: 65.1% of adolescents comply with the recommendations on PE school days, compared to 36.6% who do so on the days with no PE class. Moreover, on PE school days, they obtain significantly higher physical activity level scores compared to days with no PE class. Conclusion: The study, therefore, shows the fundamental role of PE in increasing daily physical activity levels. Proposals to improve physical activity levels in these adolescents should be put forward, with educational centres being one of the best settings to achieve this goal.

This study had two aims: (1) to identify the levels of physical activity, screen time and sleep time of adolescents according to the sex of the participant and the day of the week; (2) to find out the relationships between physical activity, screen time and sleep time according to the sex of the participant and the day of the week. The study design was non-experimental, descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 694 adolescents in Compulsory Secondary Education from Soria (Spain). Four by One-Day Physical Activity Questionnaires were used to measure levels of physical activity, screen time and sleep time. Levene’s test and Student’s t-test were used to calculate the difference between the means of the variables. Pearson’s test was used to calculate bivariate correlations between variables. Results showed higher levels of screen time in males (136.93 min/day ± 81.548). Screen time, sleep time and moderate–vigorous physical activity are higher during the weekend. Positive relationships were found between screen time and light physical activity (rmales = 0.274; p ≤ 0.01; rfemales = 0.065; p > 0.05). The correlations between moderate–vigorous physical activity and screen time were negative (rmales = −0.282; p ≤ 0.01; rfemales = −0.187; p ≤ 0.05). The relationship between screen time and sleep time was negative in males (r = −0.135; p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, the levels of physical activity, screen time and sleep time vary according to the sex of the participants and the day of the week.

ResumenLas recomendaciones internacionales aconsejan que los niños y jóvenes practiquen como mínimo 60 minutos/día de actividad física moderada-vigorosa (AFMV). Los objetivos de la presente investigación son: 1) conocer el grado de cumplimiento de las recomendaciones de un grupo de 71 alumnos de 1º y 2º de ESO del municipio de Soria; 2) describir la duración y el gasto energético (GE) de práctica de AFMV en función del sexo y la edad de los participantes, del momento del día (mañana y tarde) y del día de la semana (jornada escolar y fin de semana). Para ello se diseñó un estudio epidemiológico conductual de carácter descriptivo, en el que 171 alumnos redactaron un diario de actividad física (AF), previamente diseñado, durante una semana. La muestra seleccionada fue de 71 alumnos. Los datos obtenidos se recogieron en una tabla de Excel, se analizaron en base al recuento del número de minutos/día de AFMV y se compararon las duraciones y GE en AFMV utilizando la prueba T de Student para muestras independientes. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el 1.4% del alumnado cumple las recomendaciones internacionales, que los chicos obtienen niveles superiores de duración y GE que las chicas y los alumnos de 1º que los de 2º de ESO, en cualquier momento del día y del día de la semana. La principal conclusión del estudio es que existen bajos niveles de cumplimiento de las recomendaciones de práctica de AFMV. Palabras claveActividad física moderada-vigorosa; gasto energético; adolescentes.