Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2018, 15(Suppl 2), S402-S403
https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2018-0516© 2018 Human Kinetics, Inc.

BRIEF REPORT

Results from Scotland’s 2018 Report Card on
Physical Activity for Children and Youthaaa

Adrienne R. Hughes, Avril Johnstone, Farid Bardid, and John J. Reilly

Introduction
Previous Active Healthy Kids Scotland Report Cards from 2013and 2016 (www.activehealthykidsscotland.co.uk) demonstrated
that only a small minority of Scottish school-aged children andadolescents meet the recommended amount of daily moderate-tovigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA; ≥60 minutes).1,2
These low levels of MVPA occur despite a favorable physicaland policy environment in Scotland.1,2 Previous report cards also
identiﬁed major limitations in surveillance of physical activity andrelated behaviors in Scotland. The aim of this short paper is to(a) summarize the Scottish grades included in the Global Matrix 3.0(www.activehealthykids.org) and (b) highlight the continuing
limitations in surveillance of physical activity among children
and adolescents in Scotland.

Methods
Similar to previous report cards in Scotland, data sources were used
for grading if they had been derived from recent (i.e. from 2014onwards) nationally representative surveys, and if methods ofmeasurement had small or negligible bias.1,2 The main data sources
used for the Scottish grades for the Global Matrix 3.0 were theHealth Behaviours in School-Age Children survey (HBSC) 2014,
the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) 2016, Hands Up Scotland(HUS) 2016, Transport & Travel in Scotland (TATIS) 2016 andthe Scottish Household Survey (SHS) 2016. The report cardworking group graded the 10 core physical activity indicators
included in the Global Matrix 3.0 (Overall Physical Activity,Organized Sport and Physical Activity, Active Play, Active
Transportation, Sedentary Behaviors, Family and Peers, School,Community and Environment, Government, and Physical Fitness).
The grades were reviewed by key stakeholders from nationalorganizations before being ﬁnalized and submitted to the GlobalMatrix 3.0. The grades for the 2018 Active Healthy Kids Scotland
Report Card (to be released later in 2018) may differ in somerespects from the Scottish grades included in the Global Matrix 3.0,
as the Scottish report card will include evidence for children under
5 years old and additional indicators (obesity and diet).

Fitness) could not be graded due to a lack of appropriate data,
which highlights continuing major gaps in the surveillance ofimportant health behaviors and inﬂuences in Scotland. Furthermore, two grades (Overall Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours) were based on limited data from the previous (2016) reportcard. For instance, the Overall Physical Activity grade was basedon adolescent data from the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-agedChildren survey; our main Scottish national survey, the Scottish
Health Survey5 could not be used for grading because it assumes
that all child and adolescent physical activity reported by parents
is MVPA, resulting in a substantial overestimation of MVPA
levels.1,2,6
The WHO has recently emphasised the importance of childphysical activity and sedentary behaviour surveillance and policy
for obesity and NCDs prevention and control.7 Weaknesses in
Scottish surveillance, policy, and evaluation suggest that important
opportunities for obesity and NCD prevention and control arebeing missed.

Conclusion
Few Scottish children and adolescents meet the guidelines forphysical activity and sedentary behaviour. These problems begin
well before adolescence, affect both sexes8,9 and exist despite afavorable policy and physical environment,1,2 suggesting that
cultural barriers to physical activity and drivers of sedentary
behavior may be important. Several indicators could not be graded,Results and Discussion
Scottish grades for the Global Matrix 3.0 are summarized inTable 1. Scotland’s 2018 Report Card cover is displayed in
Figure 1. Four indicators (including Active Play and PhysicalFigure 1 — Scotland’s 2018 Report Card cover.

Hughes, Johnstone, and Reilly are with the Physical Activity for Health Group, School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. Bardid
is with the School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK; and the Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Hughes(adrienne.hughes@strath.ac.uk) is corresponding author.

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2018 Scottish Report Card

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Table 1

S403

Grades and rationales for Scotland’s 2018 Report CardIndicator

Grade Rationale

Overall Physical Activity

F

Organized Sport & Physical ActivityActive PlayB

Active Transportation

C

Sedentary Behaviours

F

Family and Peers
SchoolCommunity andEnvironment

INC
INC
B-GovernmentC

Physical Fitness

INC

INC

This grade has been carried forward from the 2016 Scottish report card2 because no data source since theprevious card measured this indicator according to the Global Matrix 3.0 benchmark. The data source (HBSC2014)3 reported that 18% of 11 to 15 year olds achieved ≥60 mins of MVPA/day on all 7 days One recent data
source4 found that 11% of 10 to 11 year olds achieved ≥60 mins of MVPA/day on each day of wear using
Actigraph, supporting the F grade.
73% of 5-15 year olds reported as participating in organised sport and physical activity in the past week.5
No data source measured or reported this indicator according to the Global Matrix 3.0 benchmark, so thisindicator could not be graded, as in previous Scottish cards.1,2
Scottish data are available only for active commuting to/from school, from two nationally representative surveys(HUS 2016; TATiS 2016) which suggested that 51-52% of school age children and adolescents in Scotland
actively commuted to school.
This grade has been carried forward from the 2016 Scottish report card2 because no data source since theprevious card has reported this indicator according to the Global Matrix 3.0 benchmark. HBSC 20143 found that
64% (weekdays) and 79% (weekend days) of 11-15 year olds reported spending > 2 hrs/d in TV viewing alone.
On weekdays, 65% of boys (78% weekend) and 46% of girls (57% weekend) played screen-based electronic
games for > 2 hrs/day, and 66% of girls (74% weekend) and 60% of boys (68% weekend) used computers forpurposes other than games for >2hrs/d. Combining the proportion of young people exceeding 2hrs/day for eachform of screen time (i.e. TV viewing, gaming and other computer use) justiﬁes the F grade.
No Scottish data sources ﬁtted the Global Matrix 3.0 benchmark for this indicator.
No eligible Scottish data sources available.
The SHS 2016 reported that 92% of households with children aged 6-12 years had access to at least one play area
within their neighbourhood. 66% of households with children aged 6-12 years felt that it was safe for children togo to a playground in their neighbourhood with 2 or 3 friends (61% to a park, 62% to ﬁeld/other open space, 57%
for streets around the home); 59% of households felt that it was safe for children to walk/cycle on their own to aplayground in their neighborhood (55% to a park, 57% to a ﬁeld/other open space, 56% for streets around thehome). This indicator was graded as B-, although access is high (A grade), safety is lower and varies by play areaand whether child is alone (C+ grade) or with friends (B- grade).
There was clear evidence of leadership and commitment to providing physical activity opportunities for children
and youth, though policy is overly focused on girls and adolescents. There was only limited allocation of funds
and resources for implementation of policy. Only limited progress through the key stages of public policymaking (policy agenda; policy formation; policy implementation; policy evaluation; decisions about the future)
had been demonstrated, with policy efforts stalling at implementation and evaluation
There are no nationally representative data on physical ﬁtness in children and adolescents in Scotland.

demonstrating major limitations with Scottish health surveillance.
Future child and adolescent health surveillance in Scotland should
adopt best practice from other countries (e.g. Canada10), including
objective measures of physical activity.

References
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JPAH 15 Supplement 2, 2018