Sex/gender considerations in school-based interventions to promote children’s and adolescents’ physical activity

Schlund, Annegret; Reimers, Anne K.; Bucksch, Jens; Linder, Stephanie; Demetriou, Yolanda

doi:10.1007/s12662-021-00724-8

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…Regarding the second objective of the study, which aimed to compare levels of PA between genders before and during the pandemic, we found that, as in previous literature (Rodríguez-Fernández, Rico-Díaz, Neira-Martín, & Navarro-Patón, 2020;Schlund, Reimers, Bucksch, Linder, & Demetriou, 2021), males had significantly higher levels of PA than females, though only in the period before the pandemic. These results are in line with another Portuguese study that analysed PA during the COVID period, which showed similar levels of PA in both genders during the pandemic (Pombo et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Levels of Physical Activity in Portuguese Children: the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mercê¹,

Cordeiro²,

Romão³

et al. 2022

Retos

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Portuguese children spend about eight hours/day in sedentary behaviours, presenting only one hour in active play. This inactivity rate is about 84%. The lower levels of physical activity (PA) trigger several health problems in children and, after, in adulthood. With the appearance of the pandemic of COVID-19 and, consequently, increase of confined tasks like distance learning, has been verified the PA decrease and screen and sedentary behaviours increase in children. The objectives are: i) verify PA levels; ii) compare PA levels between genders, before and during the pandemic. The questionnaire “Cuestinário Pictórico de la Actividad Físca Infantil” has been translated and applied in Portugal, across the platform Google Forms, having been answered by 61 children of average age of 12.0±3.1 years. Before the pandemic, male children practice more PA. During the pandemic, has been verified a practise decrease in both genders. The PA levels settled between “Little active” and “Nothing active”, not checking differences between genders. The child’s age affected positively the formal PA in academies and clubs and, negatively the informal practise. It has been verified that lower PA levels are associated with higher weight values. Portuguese children PA levels are well below the recommended, situation that worsened during the pandemic. In order to combat childhood inactivity and overweight, it is necessary to develop measures to promote PA early specially in situations of pandemic and/or confinement, in which PA reaches even lower levels.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Levels of Physical Activity in Portuguese Children: the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mercê¹,

Cordeiro²,

Romão³

et al. 2022

Retos

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show abstract

“…The finding that PA increased after the COVID-19 restrictions had been eased is in line with studies that compared children’s and adolescents’ PA upon return to school [ 58 , 59 ]. This is not surprising given that COVID-19 restrictions removed many opportunities for children and adolescents to be active, such as active travel to school, school break times, and sports activities in and out of the school context [ 36 , 37 ]. Furthermore, our analysis revealed no covariance between intercept and slope in the elevation of PA, indicating that the participants became more physically active after the pandemic regardless of how active (or inactive) they were during the pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aim of this study, therefore, was to test the reciprocal relationship between PA and mental health in children and adolescents. Schools are widely recognized as essential for promoting PA in this target group [ 35 ], as the school setting provides many different opportunities for formal and informal PA, such as regular courses, active breaks between classes, or after-school programs [ 36 , 37 ]. We thus sampled school-aged children and collected data on their mental health problems, health-related quality of life, and PA both before and during the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical activity and mental health in school-aged children: a prospective two-wave study during the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions

Kopp,

Möhler,

Gröpel

2024

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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Background Because physical activity (PA) has many benefits for children’s and adolescents’ mental health, it has been suggested that PA may be an effective strategy to physically and mentally recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested the reciprocal relationship between PA and mental health during the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. It was hypothesized that mental health during the pandemic would determine how much children and adolescents re-engage in PA after easing the restrictions. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that PA engagement would predict mental health improvement after the pandemic. Methods This was a prospective study with two measurement occasions. Pretest data collection was undertaken in February 2022, shortly before German authorities eased and lifted the COVID-19 restrictions. The follow-up (posttest) occurred six weeks later (April 2022). Both times, a sample of elementary and grammar school students aged 6 to 18 years (N = 170) reported their mental health problems and health-related quality of life. Mental health problems were assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and health-related quality of life was assessed with the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire. PA was measured continuously during the study period using smart electronic devices with a built-in pedometer. Results PA gradually increased after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions (p < .001). This increase was unrelated to pretest mental health problems and health-related quality of life except for emotional symptoms (p = .041). Participants with higher emotional symptoms showed a sharper increase in PA towards the end of the study period. Furthermore, hyperactivity decreased (p = .004) and physical well-being (p = .004), perceived autonomy (p < .001), and perceived quality of school environment (p = .008) improved from before to after the easing of restrictions, yet participants’ PA predicted none of these changes. Conclusions The adverse effects of COVID-19 containment on PA seem to alleviate after children and adolescents are allowed to return to schools. This is likely to be due to the school setting, which provides many different opportunities for formal and informal PA rather than students’ mental health. School-related PA programs should be part of children’s and adolescents’ recovery from the pandemic .

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“…Even so, as far as gender in PAL is concerned, gender is still rarely investigated in the field of preschool education. According to multiple review articles, Schlund et al (2021a), Schlund et al (2021b), Schulze et al (2021), and Kippe and Lagestad (2018) found that gender is inadequate in related studies to a large extent. Some identified affecting factors such as ethnicity (Hu et al, 2021), semester of birth (Navarro-Patón et al, 2021), and SEND also failed to be considered in the previous studies.…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impact of Gender Difference on 3-6 Years Old Children’s Physical Activity Levels

Shen¹

2022

JED

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Several studies have shown that children’s physical activity levels (PAL) are not sub-optimal, however, PAL is critical to children’s development. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that whether there is a significant gap between boys and girls on PAL. The gender is ignored in the previous research was remedied in this study. Quantitative methods are employed to collect primary data on PAL in children aged 3-6 years. This study has implications in terms of theory, methodology, and practice, for researchers, practitioners, and parents in the preschool education field.

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Sex/gender considerations in school-based interventions to promote children’s and adolescents’ physical activity

Cited by 10 publications

References 59 publications

Levels of Physical Activity in Portuguese Children: the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Levels of Physical Activity in Portuguese Children: the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Physical activity and mental health in school-aged children: a prospective two-wave study during the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions

Exploring the Impact of Gender Difference on 3-6 Years Old Children’s Physical Activity Levels

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