Children's In-School and Out-of-School Physical Activity During Two Seasons

Physical activity (PA) promotion for youth has long been thought of as a public health issue (Sallis & McKenzie, 1991). However, with increases in diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle and the known benefits of PA, increasing the PA levels of children and adolescents has become a major public health concern (Strong et al., 2005). To this end, numerous organizations are calling on schools to take a leadership role in youth PA promotion (National Assocation for Sport and Physical Education, 2008; Pate et al., 2006). The Institutes of Medicine ( Koplan, Liverman, & Kraak, 2005) suggested that decreased opportunity for PA during school is one of five environmental factors preventing children from meeting PA recommendations of 60+ min/day. In addition, nearly all children attend school and spend as much as 30% of their waking hours in that setting (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001; Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, 2009). For these reasons, schools are a logical setting to influence youth PA. Prior to developing and evaluating interventions, it is important to understand the amount of PA children accumulate during the school day and across the school year. Although increasing students’ activity levels during school hours is important, examining the impact of school-day interventions on students’ activity levels outside of school is also crucial. A comprehensive approach that promotes PA both in school and out of school activities is necessary to maximize daily PA (Pate et al., 2006). Previous studies examining PA levels during specific times of the school day suggest that children can accumulate meaningful amounts of activity (Beighle, Morgan, Le Masurier, & Pangrazi, 2006; Morgan, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2007; Ridgers, Stratton, & Fairclough, 2006; Tudor-Locke, Lee, Morgan, Beighle, & Pangrazi, 2006). Others have reported children’s activity levels during school and outside of school. Gidlow and colleagues (2008) used accelerometry and found that for British children ages 3–16 years, school activity represented 30% of their daily activity. These interventions also found that children do not compensate for low school activity by being more active outside of school. In New Zealand, the number of steps taken during school accounted for approximately 47% of total daily steps for elementary-age students (Cox, Schofield, Greasley, & Kolt, 2006). Similarly, in a sample of U.S. students, steps taken during school represented 40% of daily steps (Morgan, Pangrazi, & Beighle, 2003). It is also important to understand the role of season on children’s PA, including school-day PA (Beighle, Alderman, Morgan, & Le Masurier, 2008). Several factors, such as temperature, weather conditions, and daylight may have an impact on children’s PA. While some argued that seasonality has a limited role in children’s PA levels (Fisher et al., 2005) others found children are more active when the weather is more conducive to outdoor activity (Goran et al., 1998; Rowlands & Hughes, 2006; Tremblay, Barnes, Esliger, & Copelane, 2005). These studies examined PA levels throughout the day. However, little is known about the impact of seasonality on children’s school PA. A better understanding of how children’s PA levels vary, including school-day PA, during different times of the year may help prioritize or reallocate resources to increase PA during particularly low activity seasons. The purpose of this study was to examine the steps taken by children both during school and out-of-school Children’s In-School and Out-of-School Physical Activity During Two Seasons