Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on Western Australian Children’s Physical Activity and Screen Time

Abstract

Physical activity is essential for children’s healthy development, yet COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions such as school closures and staying at home, playground closures, and the cancelling of organised community sport have dramatically altered children’s opportunities to be physically active. This study describes changes in levels of physical activity and screen time from February 2020 (i.e., before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in Western Australia) to May 2020 (i.e., when COVID-19 restrictions were in place). Parents of children aged 5 to 9 years from Western Australia were eligible to participate and recruited through convenience sampling. An online survey instrument that included validated measures of their children’s physical activity (unstructured, organized, home-based, indoor/outdoor active play, dog play/walking), sociodemographic, and other potential confounders was administered to parents. Paired t-tests and mixed ANOVA models assessed changes in physical activity outcomes. The analytic sample comprised parents of 157 children who were 6.9 years of age (SD = 1.7) on average. Overall, weekly minutes of total physical activity (PA) did not change from before to during COVID-19. However, frequency and duration (total and home-based) of unstructured physical activity significantly increased. Outdoor play in the yard or street around the house, outdoor play in the park or playground or outdoor recreation area, and active indoor play at home all significantly increased. Frequency and total duration of organised physical activity significantly declined during COVID-19 distancing. During Western Australian COVID-19 restrictions, there was an increase in young children’s unstructured physical activity and outdoor play and a decrease in organised physical activity. It remains to be seen whether children’s increased physical activity has been sustained with the easing of physical distancing restrictions.

Objective Behavioral Measures in Children before, during, and after the COVID-19 Lockdown in Israel

“…The correlation is that the reduced physical activity observed in the current study might have a negative impact of children's health. The results of the current study provide objective support to the findings of prior studies using parent-reported questionnaires that investigated the impact of the pandemic in children around the world and found physical activity to be significantly reduced by social distancing restrictions [6][7][8][9][10][11]45,46]. Evidence has already been reported regarding negative short-term health outcomes of the pandemic.…”

“…This study only included boys because it is a follow up of a previous study that only included boys. In terms of physical activity and sleep, some studies evaluating physical activity and sleep during the pandemic using questionnaires reported no significant differences between boys and girls in terms of the impact of the pandemic [6][7][8]10], although one did report a difference in physical activity [46]. Thus, it is hard to predict what the results would have been had we included girls.…”

“…Some studies found that sleep duration increased during the pandemic [6,7,9,10,46]. Nathan et al, found no difference in sleep duration [8], while Abid et al, found no difference in duration, but observed poorer sleep quality [45]. In an online survey, half of participants reported no difference in sleep duration during the pandemic, while a third reported increased sleep, and 17% reported decreased sleep [46].…”

“…Questions have been raised about how such COVID-19 restrictions might be affecting children's physical and mental health. Numerous studies using questionnaires have measured the impact of social distancing and school closures on children's physical activity, sleep, and screen time [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Most studies showed a decrease in physical activity [6,7,[9][10][11] and increased screen time [6][7][8][9][10][11], but with equivocal results regarding sleep [6,7,9,10].…”

“…Numerous studies using questionnaires have measured the impact of social distancing and school closures on children's physical activity, sleep, and screen time [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Most studies showed a decrease in physical activity [6,7,[9][10][11] and increased screen time [6][7][8][9][10][11], but with equivocal results regarding sleep [6,7,9,10]. However, these outcomes are based on parent questionnaires, which are subjective and limited by recall errors and parental biases [12][13][14][15].…”