¿Son los adultos un modelo de conducta influyente en los hábitos de actividad física de los menores? Un estudio observacional de la población española (Are adults influential role models in children’s physical activity habits? An observational study of t

Abstract


 Este estudio se llevó a cabo con los objetivos de determinar la prevalencia del sobrepeso y la obesidad de los menores españoles; identificar las posibles relaciones existentes entre éstas y los hábitos de AF en los adultos; y explicar si dichas relaciones tienen como origen variables socio-económicas para la muestra objeto de estudio. Para alcanzarlos se realizó un estudio observacional transversal basado en los datos extraídos de la última Encuesta Nacional de Salud de España disponible (2017) de 7598 encuestas respondidas por un adulto que viviese en un domicilio en el que se registrase la existencia de un menor mayor de 5 años. La proporción de menores con sobrepeso desciende a medida que el nivel de estudios del adulto es más alto. Asimismo, la cantidad de menores con infrapeso incrementa ligeramente con el aumento de nivel de estudios del adulto. En general, los menores realizan con más frecuencia actividad física que los adultos (38.1% de adultos sedentarios frente a 13.7% de menores) y dicha frecuencia aumenta a medida que el nivel de estudios del adulto es más elevado. Por tanto, los resultados obtenidos muestran que los menores españoles tienden a replicar el estilo de vida (lo que incluye los hábitos de actividad física) de los adultos con los que conviven. Lo que convierte a los adultos en la población diana sobre la que incidir políticas sanitarias de prevención primaria y secundaria para mejorar su salud y la de los niños que los rodean.
 Abstract: This study was carried out with the objectives of determining the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Spanish minors; identify the possible relationships between them and PA habits in adults; and explain whether these relationships have socio-economic variables for the sample under study. To achieve them, a cross-sectional observational study was carried out based on data from the last available Spanish National Health Survey (2017), including 7598 surveys answered by adults living in households comprising minors older than 5 years old. The proportion of overweight minors decreases as adults’ educational level is higher. Likewise, the number of underweight children increases slightly along with adults’ increased level of education. In general, minors engage in physical activity more frequently than adults (38.1% of sedentary adults compared to 13.7% of minors) and this frequency increases together with higher adults’ level of education. The results obtained show that Spanish minors tend to replicate the physical-activity-related lifestyles of adults whom they live with. This makes adults the target population to influence primary and secondary prevention health policies with the aim to improve their health and that of children around them.

Evolution of the Habits of Physical Activity and Television Viewing in Spanish Children and Pre-Adolescents between 1997 and 2017

“…However, our findings are not in line with such assertions; although a higher proportion of sedentary minors was detected, none of the surveys in any of the subgroups by age or sex showed an increase in body weight or BMI among the respondents with respect to previous editions. These results are in agreement with those obtained by some recent studies that also identified decreases in overweight and obesity rates in Spanish minors [38,39]. Particularly, the oldest group of minors (12-14 years) showed the lowest rate of daily PA practice abandonment, although it also presented the lowest prevalence of such habit in the initial survey of 1997.…”

“…The latter aspect is of special interest in the specific analysis of girls, who showed significantly more sedentary patterns than boys throughout the entire study period of twenty years. This phenomenon is a constant finding in similar studies, where girls always show less active lifestyles than boys of the same age [39,44].…”

“…Moreover, in the analysis based on sex, girls also showed the greatest increase in the number of hours of TV viewing, eventually surpassing the proportion of boys who watched TV daily for the largest number of hours. This phenomenon contradicts some previous studies that identified higher rates of exposure to screens in boys compared to girls [18,39,45]. Specifically, Keane et al [45] identified that the proportion of boys who spend more than one hour watching television daily is 3.3% higher than that of girls and those who spend more than one hour playing on the computer daily is 16.1% higher than that of girls.…”

“…Specifically, Keane et al [45] identified that the proportion of boys who spend more than one hour watching television daily is 3.3% higher than that of girls and those who spend more than one hour playing on the computer daily is 16.1% higher than that of girls. In parallel, Boente-Antela et al [39] indicated that boys spend, on average, 40 more minutes per week in front of a screen than girls. In this sense, our results could be influenced by the fact that we did not consider the exposure of children to other electronic devices associated with a screen (such as game consoles, tablets, computers, and mobile phones), whose use is very common, especially in the last age group analyzed.…”

Relationship between Cognitive Functions and Sport-Specific Physical Performance in Youth Volleyball Players

“…This finding supports the close interplay of motor and cognitive skills, suggesting a connection between physical and cognitive domains in youth athletic development. In a broader view, apart from a field-based performance context, the health and growth of youngsters (children and adolescents) engaging in physical activity can be harmonically promoted [12,13] by targeting the whole area of well-being including social interactions, active lifestyle, cognition, physical fitness, and motor skills. In a specific view, motor skills and general cognitive functions can share common bases concurring to enhance a holistic development both in athlete and in non-athlete youngsters.…”