Tracking of Physical Activity from Childhood to Adulthood: A Review

Abstract

The aim of the article was to review studies on the tracking of physical activity in all phases of life from childhood to late adulthood. The majority of the studies have been published since 2000. The follow-up time in most studies was short, the median being 9 years. In men, the stability of physical activity was significant but low or moderate during all life phases and also in longterm follow-ups. In women, the tracking was lower and in many cases non-significant. Among both sexes, stability seems to be lower in early childhood than in adolescence or in adulthood and lower in transitional phases, such as from childhood to adolescence or from adolescence to adulthood, than in adulthood. However, the differences in the stability of physical activity between age groups and between different phases of life were small. The number of tracking studies utilising objective methods to measure physical activity was so small that systematic differences in stability between self-report and objective methods could not be determined. A factor which caused differences in tracking results was the adjustment of correlations for measurement error and other error variance. Adjusted coefficients were clearly higher than unadjusted ones. However, adjustment was done only in very few studies. If the different methods used for estimating habitual physical activity and the failure to control for important covariates in studies of tracking are taken into account, physical activity appears to track reasonably well also in the longer term, for example from adolescence to adulthood. The results of the tracking studies support the idea that the enhancement of physical activity in children and adolescents is of great importance for the promotion of public health.

Physical Education and Student Activity: Evaluating Implementation of a New Policy in Los Angeles Public Schools

“…Among the elements of quality PE specified in California's Model Content Standards, weekly MVPA is listed; however, there are no specific state or district requirements for the amount of physical activity during each PE class. On the other hand, both the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) and USHHS recommend that PE classes provide students the opportunity to participate in MVPA for at least 50 % of each class period (Table 1) [7,26]. Students' ontask participation is also reflected in the average level of MVPA over the duration of a class period.…”

“…The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that children and adolescents participate in a minimum of 60 min of moderate or vigorous physical activity daily [6]. Additionally, developing habits, skills, and abilities to participate in regular physical activity during childhood and adolescence is associated with continued physical activity through adulthood [7].…”

The effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among young girls: A meta-analysis

“…Moreover, given the small-to-moderate strength of tracking of physical activity from pre to during adolescence (Telama, 2009), it may be wise to promote physical activity early in life if maintenance of this health behaviour is desired, even though it is recognised that there are a multitude of influences on physical activity across the lifespan.…”

Maternal and early life nutrition and physical activity: setting the research and intervention agenda for addressing the double burden of malnutrition in South African children

“…Sedentary behaviour has also been associated with obesity in childhood [41,42]. Studies assessing physical activity levels in the first two years of life are limited; however, there is evidence to suggest that physical activity and sedentary behaviours track through childhood [44,45], and into adulthood [46,47], making it crucial that healthy behaviours are established early in life. Although it has typically been assumed that young children are naturally active enough to be protected against overweight and obesity, evidence regarding preschool children’s physical activity levels challenges this assumption [48], and the sparsity of data in younger children makes evidence-based investigation necessary.…”