Evidencing the influence of pre-pandemic sports participation and substance misuse on physical activity during the COVID‑19 lockdown: a prospective analysis among older adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: The physical activity level (PAL) has significantly decreased as a result of the social distancing and lockdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is a lack of knowledge on the correlates of PAL during the pandemic. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of pre-pandemic sports participation and substance use and misuse (SUM) on PAL during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: The study included 661 high-school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina (aged 15-18 years, 292 females). The investigation included 2 testing waves: before the COVID-19 pandemic (baseline, January 2020) and during the COVID-19 lockdown (follow-up, April 2020). The variables included PAL as measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents, sports factors, and SUM. Results: Sports factors at baseline were positively correlated with PALs at both baseline and follow-up. Smoking tobacco negatively affected PALs at both baseline and follow-up. Alcohol consumption was positively correlated with PAL at baseline but had no effect on PAL at follow-up. Conclusions: This study confirmed the importance of sports participation in maintaining PAL during challenging situations, such as the COVID-19 lockdown. The substance-specific influence of SUM on PAL before and during the lockdown points to evident social and cultural aspects of SUM behaviors in adolescents. Further studies evidencing the cumulative effects of PAL decline during the lockdown are warranted.

Evidencing the Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Imposed Lockdown Measures on Fitness Status in Adolescents: A Preliminary Report

“…Similarly, Spanish adolescents presented decreases in both moderate and vigorous PAL by 29.5% and 18.3%, respectively, during the lockdown [6]. Reduced PAL and increased sedentary behavior were confirmed in adolescents from Australia, Canada, Spain, Italy, and Germany [4,[7][8][9][10][11][12]. Results from studies conducted on adolescents from Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina evidenced decreased PAL as a consequence of restrictions related Healthcare 2021, 9, 681 2 of 9 to the COVID-19 pandemic [13][14][15][16].…”

Changes in Physical Activity Patterns Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The majority of studies noted a significant reduction in PA during the Covid-19 lockdown ( n = 32). In contrast, only few studies found an increase in PA ( n = 5) [ 57 , 72 , 84 , 100 , 109 ] while six studies failed to detect any changes in PA [ 50 , 51 , 68 , 71 , 86 , 99 ]. Fourteen other studies showed both, a decrease and an increase in PA, depending on the PA characteristics under study.…”

“…The 16 studies examined a total of 11,484 (5587 females) participants (one did not provide information on gender [ 53 ]) with an age range from four to 18 years [ 85 , 86 ]. Alonso-Martinez et al [ 69 ] were the only researchers who solely used device-based measurements, and Munasinghe et al [ 63 ] and Nyström et al [ 57 ] used both, SR and DB measurement methods.…”

Exploring the Association between Alcohol Drinking and Physical Activity in Adolescence; Two-Year Prospective Study in Younger Adolescents from Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…The participants from Group 3 (with the greatest relative decline in PAL) were considered the "high-risk group," Group 2 was considered the "medium-risk group," and Group 1 was considered the "low-risk group" with regard to a decrease in PAL over the study period. Such categorization allowed us to calculate the multinomial regression for PAL∆% as a criterion, as recently suggested [31].…”