Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22
DOI 10.1007/s11556-010-0076-3

ACADEMIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Life-course perspective for physical activity
and sports participation
Mirja Hirvensalo & Taru Lintunen

Received: 4 August 2010 / Accepted: 14 December 2010 / Published online: 11 January 2011
# European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA) 2011

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to discuss physicalactivity and sports participation in a life-course framework,
long-term tracking, determinants, and correlates of physicalactivity from childhood to old age, and present possible
causal links and pathways for the continuity of physicalactivity. It seems that intensive participation in general inphysical activity and sports, as well as participation at
school age, are important predictors of adulthood participation. Especially, inactivity rather than activity tends totrack from youth to adulthood. Socioeconomic status, placeof residence, and personal upward social mobility are
related to participation. If physical activity is at a low levelin early adulthood, it does not easily become a part of life
later on, particularly among blue-collar workers, women,
and people with initially poor perceived health. Furthermore, in old age, earlier physical activity seems to be thekey determinant along with gender. Repeated social
reinforcement in the form of support for autonomy,competence, and relatedness is important especially intransition periods and life events such as secondary
schooling, change in employment, and change in family
structure. In contrast, retirement presented itself as a goodchance of starting new leisure time activities. A life-course
approach provides understanding on long-ranging developmental trajectories. According to these results in particular,
the polarization of exercise to the active and inactive
portions of the population is accumulated over time, andgender and social background features require special
attention.

M. Hirvensalo (*) : T. Lintunen
Department of Sport Sciences, University of Jyväskylä,
P.O. Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finlande-mail: mirja.hirvensalo@jyu.fi

Keywords Physical activity . Sport participation . Old age .
Youth . Adolescence . Adulthood

Introduction
The life-course perspective has been introduced as atemporal research perspective that can potentially help inunderstanding physical activity behaviors over the lifespan;in particular, it could be useful for the timing of physicalactivity interventions [1]. According to life-course theory
such as accumulation theory, cross-sectional factors andexperiences in different phases of life accumulate longitudinally in later life. The best opportunity to study lifecourse events and exposures in epidemiology is provided
by birth cohort studies that can link development andenvironment to later health outcomes [2]. In general,longitudinal studies create an opportunity to investigate
prospectively or retrospectively life-course patterns ofphysical activity over time and across various life eventsand transitions. In addition, qualitative studies that involve
life reviews and life stories [3, 4] are able to answer
different research questions and deepen the quantitative
results. Research using the life-course perspective hasemphasized the impact of childhood or early life conditions
and experiences on adulthood. The transitions (retirement)
or events (child birth, death of spouse) at later stages of thelife course can also shape the direction of trajectories [5, 6].
In this review, a life-course approach to physical activity
and sports participation means studying the tracking ofphysical activity and the long-term determinants andcorrelates of physical activity. The determinants andcorrelates are factors that affect or are related to physicalactivity such as the demographic and biological, psychological, behavioral, social and cultural, and physical14

environment [7]. Physical activity is discussed as a habit,
and other causal links and possible pathways of physicalactivity are presented. The perspective of longitudinalstudies is reported by means of the tracking study review
by Telama [8], and by studies from childhood andadolescence to middle adulthood [9–16], in adulthood [17,18], longtime tracking from young age to old age [19], andin old age [20–25]. Transitions, for example, retirement andlife changes, are seen as an opportunity for positive andnegative changes in physical activity.

Physical activity and exercise participation
In the definition of Caspersen et al. [26], physical activity isseen as any voluntary movement produced by the skeletal
muscles that result in increased energy expenditure, andexercise is described as a subcategory of physical activity
which is planned, structured, and repetitive, with the intent
of improving or maintaining one or more patterns ofphysical fitness or function. Physical activity and exercise
can be classified as behaviors, whereas fitness can beclassified as performance. When physical activity isunderstood as a behavior, its longstanding character andcognitive, emotional, and action components are emphasized. The concept of physical activity or sports participation can be seen as voluntary and quite stable physicalactivity that is measured by type, frequency, intensity, andduration of exercise. It also includes motives and attitudes
toward physical activity [27]. The essential element of thisdefinition is consciousness and the attitude of the person
himself or herself. For a young person, physical activity
participation could be exercising in a sports club for fun orwith serious competitive intent, and for an older person, it
might also be sports club participation or a walk to themarket place or a group-based sport such as water
gymnastics for rehabilitation. Often, participation in physical activity is not only based on planned behavior andintention but is performed rather automatically and withless awareness; it could then be defined as a habit. Habit
makes a contribution as the automatic component that isstrengthened when physically active behavior becomes aroutine and is incorporated repeatedly into everyday life
[28] such as daily walks, daily home gymnastics, andcommuting in a physically active way. Physical activity
habits are assumed to develop during childhood throughadolescence into adulthood [29]. In addition, the promotionof public health through physical activity interventions andphysical education in schools is based on the belief thatphysical activity is habitual and tracks over time.
Tracking is one of the important concepts of life-course
physical activity, while the others are transitions, anddeterminants and correlates of physical activity in different

Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

phases of life. Tracking is usually defined as the tendency
of individuals to maintain their rank or position within agroup over time [30]. It is expected that physical activity ata young age will have an effect on public health, and a highlevel of physical activity in youth should predict a highlevel of physical activity in adulthood. The tracking ofinactivity is also an important question from the promotion
perspective. The mechanism of tracking and different
hypotheses, e.g., the carry-over value hypothesis, ability
and readiness hypothesis, and self-selection hypotheses
have been presented in the review of tracking studies by
Telama [8]. The ability and readiness hypothesis maintains
that earlier experiences of physical activities and sports andof the basic skills connected with them make it easy tomaintain physical activity or start it again after a possible
break, even though the type of activity practiced is different[8]. The concept of carry-over value means that activities inwhich people participate in adulthood should be learned
as early as possible, e.g., in school physical education.
The positive experiences and wide range of sports skills
acquired in childhood and adolescence could be seen as
the preparation for lifelong physical activity. The selfselection hypothesis posits that those individuals who
have a hereditary disposition to fitness, early or latematuration in relation to age-mates, or motor performance
participate more often in physical activity both at a young
age and in adulthood than those who do not have thesame disposition [8]. In addition to physical activity,
these three models and explanations fit into physicalactivity motivation.
Self-determination theory (SDT) [31–34], a meta-theory
for framing motivational studies, defines that intrinsic andvaried extrinsic sources of motivation have an effect on
cognitive and social development and on individual differences. Self-determination theory has become a salient
motivational theory in recent years and has received a great
deal of research attention. The theory propositions focus on
how social and cultural factors facilitate or undermine
people’s sense of volition and initiative, in addition to theirwell-being and the quality of their performance. It is argued
that conditions supporting the individual’s experience ofautonomy, competence, and relatedness foster the mostvolitional and high quality forms of motivation andengagement for activities, including enhanced performanceand persistence in physical activity. Autonomy refers to thebelief that one has some level of control over whether toparticipate in physical activity. Competence refers to thebelief that a person possesses sufficient ability to cope in a
specific situation, and relatedness is how connected aperson feels to those around, such as parents, peers, andcolleagues. The stability of perceived competence has beenstudied to some extent. However, hardly any tracking
research exists on perceived autonomy and relatedness.

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Perceived physical competence is relatively stable overtime [30]. However, we do not know how modifiable
perceived competence is during the lifespan. When it has
been formed, it may crystallize into a stable characteristic
or it may remain stable because the environment remains
unchanged for many people.

Physical activity participation in longitudinal studies
Longitudinal studies provide an opportunity to study
prospectively or retrospectively physical activity over time
and whether physical activity already in youth leads to acertain pathway with consequences for later activity andwell-being. These studies are relatively scarce because theyrequire a large financial effort and the long-term commitment of subjects, and encounter certain problems such aschanging measurement techniques, a changing concept ofphysical activity, and confounding effects that occur inrepeated measurements [35]. The concept of physicalactivity may have varied; those who, nowadays, know thatwhen they walk somewhere (shopping, work), they aretaking exercise might not recognize this earlier in life (e.g.,
30 years previously). Socioeconomic status may be a
confounding effect that occurs in repeated measurements
in different ways; those with higher status continue
participating more often in later phases of life.
Most commonly, physical activity is studied across twoor three time points, for example, using Spearman’s rankorder correlations in tracking studies; across childhood intoadolescence, from adolescence into young adulthood, andduring adulthood. Other methods for considering activity
stability or change in activity include using baselinecharacteristics to predict physical activity and fitness
several years later and relating current activity withretrospective recall of earlier activity levels.
From childhood to adolescence and adulthood
Early physical activity in childhood and adolescencepredicts a physically active lifestyle in adulthood [9, 12,
13, 36, 37]. However, the tracking of physical activity
during transitions from childhood to adulthood and adolescence to adulthood has been shown to be quite low, while
the tracking of physical activity during adult life issomewhat higher [8, 30]. From early ages (7–11 years) to
middle adulthood, Spearman’s rank order correlations havebeen found to be from 0.03 to .035 and from adolescence toadulthood from 0.15 to 0.44 for men and for 0.09 to 0.34
women [8]. The low tracking correlation indicates thatmany other factors influence physical activity in adulthood.
Low tracking correlations may also be due to measurement
errors. Education, occupation, living environment, marital

15

status, having children, and health attitudes have beenfound to be important factors for later activity [9, 12, 15].
As early as 1992, Kuh and Cooper [9] examined theinfluence of childhood activity on adult activity patterns inwork and leisure in a national sample in England, Scotland,
and Wales of over 3,300 men and women aged 36 years
from a birth cohort of the year 1946. Those who were mostactive in sport in adulthood had been above average at
sports in school, more outgoing socially in adolescence,
had fewer health problems in childhood, were better
educated, and had more mothers with a secondary
education than those who were less active. Two decades
later, Mäkinen et al. [10] studied a representative sample ofFinns aged ≥30 years in 2000–2001 and found thatchildhood socioeconomic conditions had an effect inleisure-time physical activity. The direct effect of childhoodsocioeconomic conditions on educational differences ininactivity was stronger than its indirect effects throughadulthood socioeconomic conditions and other healthbehaviors. Tammelin et al. [12] studied a Finnish cohort
of 8,000 men and women at ages 14 and 31 in follow-up
surveys of the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort. Theirresults suggest an association between father’s occupationand type of sport. Participants in downhill skiing, dancing,orienteering, and riding came from families of the highest
social class, and participants in strength sports, walking,cycling, and soccer came more commonly from families oflow social class. They also found associations between
participation in some sports with high grades in school
sports and membership of a sports club that carried over
into adult years. In addition, Cleland et al. [15] found that apersistently high socioeconomic position and upward social
mobility were associated with increases in self-reported
physical activity and objectively measured fitness fromchildhood to adulthood among over 2,000 Australian adults
aged 26–36 who had first been examined between the agesof 7 and 15. Upward social mobility, defined as reaching ahigher level of educational attainment than one’s parents,
was associated with a greater likelihood of high physicalactivity in adulthood and a greater likelihood of a highfitness level. The results of secular trends in the Finnish
Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey from 1977 to 2005[16] showed that participation in youth sport organized by
sport clubs was strongly associated with parental socioeconomic status over a period of 28 years in both sexes. Social
inequality was smaller in sport organized by schools and inyoung people’s spontaneous physical activities. Participation in physical activity is unevenly distributed acrosspopulation groups. Various writers have discussed [12, 15,
16] that associations between childhood socioeconomic
position, social mobility, and physical activity and fitness
may run through the mechanisms, such as improvedsocioeconomic circumstances leading to greater social or16economic and psychological support for physical activity
for example through more flexible work hours and higher
income; a low social class may weaken parents’ ability totransport children to organized sports, as well as to afford
the fees and equipment required for the young person toparticipate.
Biological and psychological determinants and correlates
are also crucial to the stability of physical activity. Allender
et al. [38] found in their review of qualitative studies ofmotives and barriers that body shape and weight management are the important reasons behind the participation ofgirls in adolescence. Those who participated from youth toadulthood recalled the importance of positive influences atschool in becoming and staying physically active (goodteachers, friends). Instead, competitive classes, a lack ofteacher support, negative experiences at school, and peerpressure and identity conflict were the major barriers tophysical activity. The findings of Lunn [39] suggest that
there is a gender gap in team sports but not in individual
sports; boys are many times more active in team sports.
Participation in sports and exercise activities moves closer
to gender equality once individuals enter adulthood, where
presumably they have greater choice and autonomy withrespect to leisure-time activities.
It is important to investigate also the stability of various
physical activities from childhood and adolescence toadulthood, and analyze how well adult physical activity
can be predicted by physical activities measured inchildhood and adolescence to obtain information forprevention and physical education about factors that may
be relevant to later activity. In the study of cardiovascularrisk in Young Finns [13], a random sample of 3,500
children, surveyed in 1980 and 2001, is analyzed. The aim
was to reveal the influence of the type of sport practiced inyouth on adult physical activity. The results indicated that ahigh level of physical activity at ages 9–18, especially when
it was continuous, significantly predicted a high level ofadult physical activity and that the level of activity inadulthood did not depend on the type of physical activity ata young age. It seems that intensive participation in generalin physical activity and sports, and continuous participation
at school age in particular, were more important thanparticipation in specific sports. In addition, when Tammelin
et al. [12] evaluated the association between participation indifferent types of adolescent sports and physical activity inadulthood, they found that very different types of participation in adolescence were beneficial with respect to theenhancement of adult physical activity. Adolescent participation in intensive endurance sports, such as cross-country
skiing, running, orienteering, as well as certain sports that
require and encourage diversified sports skills, such as ice
hockey, soccer, volleyball, track and field, gymnastics, andriding and combat sports, was associated with a high or

Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

very high level of adult activity. Matton et al. [14] foundthat fitness characteristics demonstrated higher levels of
stability from adolescence to middle adulthood thanphysical activity, and inactivity rather than activity tended
to continue from youth to adulthood when they studied thestability of the physical fitness and physical activity of 138
women from adolescence (17 years of age) into adulthood(40 years of age) in Flemish women in the Leuven
Longitudinal Study. Similar results were reported in the
Amsterdam Growth and Health Study. The tracking of daily
physical activity and physical fitness along with cardiovascular disease risk factors was investigated by means of six
repeated measurements of 5,100 subjects over a period
from 13 to 27 years of age [11]. The total time spent on all
habitual physical activities in relation to school, work,
sports, and on other leisure time activities was measured
and calculated with the intensity to energy expiatory METscores. Low to moderate tracking was observed for daily
physical activity and VO2 max, whereas good tracking wasobserved for neuromotor fitness. In contrast, daily physicalactivity seemed to predict activity clearly from early years
to adulthood—an odds ratio of 3.6 was found—indicatingthat those in the lowest quartile for physical activity at theage of 13 were 3.6 times more likely to remain in the lowest
quartile along the measurement period of 15 years thanthose in the upper three quartiles at the age of 13.
In adulthood
The tracking coefficients during adulthood have beenmoderate, from 0.35 to 0.65, and seem to be smaller when
the follow-up period has been longer [8]. The stability in a
Finnish study over 5 years in 18–64-year-old male and forfemale subjects was 0.46 and 0.34, and stability over
10 years was 0.25 and 0.29, respectively [18]. The study
examined both the tracking of physical activity and theeffect of earlier physical activity and other lifestyle andsocio-demographic determinants of sport, exercise, recreation, and housework physical activity. The level of physicalactivity at baseline was a good predictor of activity during
the follow-up stages. Changes along the follow-up reflect apolarization of the distributions of physical activity within
the sample. Low activity, old age, smoking, a blue-collar
occupation, female gender, a high body mass index, andpoor perceived health were significant predictors ofinactivity in the 5-year follow-up in 1978, whereas oldage, smoking, and low activity were predictors in the
10-year follow-up in 1983. In the model for the 28-year
follow-up, in 2000, the dominant factors were age, alongwith female gender, a blue-collar occupation, smoking,poor perceived health, and low initial activity. Age and an
initially low level of activity were the strongest predictorsof inactivity. A similar gender difference was found in theEur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

study of Fortier et al. [17] with male subjects showing
greater stability and higher physical activity levels thanwith female subjects. The study compared the tracking ofphysical activity levels between male and female subjects
during middle adulthood. The Canadian sample comprised
1,900 subjects, aged 11–69 years, in the 1981 Canada
Fitness Survey and its 7-year follow-up, the Campbell’s
Survey. The measures of physical activity were estimatedactivity energy expenditure and time spent on activity.
Significant tracking correlations for physical activity levels
were limited to adulthood, whereas significant tracking ofmusculoskeletal fitness was observed at all ages. The
results suggest that the level of physical activity has greater
plasticity than musculoskeletal fitness and is thus subject togreater change.
Individual determinants such as personality have beenrecognized as an important correlate of physical activity[40], e.g., in the Terman Life-Cycle Study, a lifespanlongitudinal cohort study, Friedman et al. [19] found thatchildhood energy and activity ratings correlated with adultactivity. They examined the activity levels of 723 men and554 women. The sample originally consisted of middle
class boys and girls. Childhood activity and interests wereassessed in1922 by parents, who evaluated their children’s“hobbies or enterprises.” Additionally, participants indicated how much they enjoyed playing games that required lotsof exercise. These ratings were averaged to indicate
childhood interest in being physically active. Adult physicalactivity was assessed in 1936, 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1972.
In 1977, when the participants were, on average, 67 years
old, individuals were asked about their level of participationin various activities. The results showed activity levels were
somewhat stable from childhood through middle and lateadulthood. Active, energetic children tended to become
active, energetic adults, and in turn tended to remain active.
These studies, the Kirjonen et al. study [18] and theFriedman et al. [19] study spanning many decades, and also
the Frontier study [17] sample including subjects aged
11–69 years suggest that there are very long-term consistencies in levels of physical activity and that fitness andinactivity tends to track better than activity. On the other
hand, the level of physical activity has greater plasticity
than fitness and is thus subject to greater change [17]. If
interest in voluntary physical activity is lacking during
early adulthood, it does not easily become a part of life lateron, particularly among blue-collar workers, women, andpeople with initially poor perceived health.
In old age
There are only a few tracking studies that extend into oldage [17–19], and it is difficult to see any systematic age
differences in the tracking coefficients reported in the17

different phases of life, the coefficients being quite low
from childhood to adulthood and at most moderate inadulthood [8]. When the subjects have already reachedolder age, the activity profiles have been shown to be quite
stable. The Nottingham Longitudinal Study found that boththe activity profiles and the time spent on various activities
were quite stable over an 8-year follow-up in subjects aged
65–74-years at the baseline. The 8-year stability correlations in outdoor activities and men’s walking and leisureactivities were moderate (0.45–0.58) [21]. Within thecohorts of older people, traditional gender roles continue
to exert an influence with women showing higher levels ofactivity participation indoors and men showing higher
levels of activity participation outdoors. In levels of
walking/shopping activity, however, there was evidence ofgender differences narrowing over time [22]. The major
sources of change might plausibly include declining healthwith reduced physical ability, widowhood, and adaptive
moves into specialized, but less spacious accommodation.
The Evergreen study in Finland [23] found that men’s
physical activity level decreased less than women’s level
over an 8-year follow-up with non-institutionalized seniors
aged 65–84 years at baseline in 1988. The study examinedchanges in subjects’ involvement in various types ofphysical exercise, and the motives for and obstacles toparticipation. Men took part in a wider range of leisure timephysical activities and sports than women, and their
participation in supervised exercise classes and doing
calisthenics exercises at home increased over the followup, while in the case of women, the general trend was thatphysical exercise declined during the follow-up. In thesame Evergreen study project, the continuity of lifespanphysical activity was studied [24] by examining thepredictors of maintaining a high level of physical activity
over 8 years of follow-up. For men and women, selfreported competitive sport participation from as early as
10–19 years of age was a significant predictor of maintaining physical activity in old age regardless of chronic
conditions. Women’s participation in recreational sports at
the age of 40–64 years also predicted activity. Bonsdorf etal. [25] studied the same participants in their 16-year
follow-up in 2004. The association of self-reported physicalactivity from midlife to old age and all-cause hospital andlong-term care in the last year of life was studied. Men who
reported consistent physical activity from midlife onward
needed fewer days of hospital care in their last year of life
than those who reported less physical activity. For women
who died before 90 years of age, the same was true forlong-term care.
In the longitudinal study in Gothenburg, Sweden [20] of
293 women and 233 men, the relation between the level ofphysical activity in earlier life and both physical activity
and performance at age 76 was analyzed. The lifespan was

18divided into five age periods from the age of 10 anddescribed as competitive sport, recreational sport, occupational physical load, household work, and means oftransportation. The Swedish results revealed that the earliest
periods could not explain activity patterns or performancelate in life when all fields of activity were combined into a
total measure of physical activity. After the age of 35 years
in men and 50 years in women, however, the associations
grew stronger, and the activity level of the last life period(66–76) was strongly correlated with physical activity in
old age. When, on the other hand, each field of activity wastreated alone, above all recreational sport turned out to bepositively related to walking speed and physical activity atage 76 in both women and men for most life periods.
Earlier physical activity seems to be the most important
determinant, along with gender, in old age. Probably, thecumulative effects of different determinants still affectphysical activity in old age. This may be due, at least inpart, to gender-role expectations that have been assimilated
over the years and that still apply in old age, namely, that it
is more appropriate for men to be active than it is for the
women. O’Brien Cousins and Vertinsky [41] conducted
life-course interviews with women born in or before 1890,
and Kluge et al. [4] explored the nature and meaning of
being physically active in women aged 65 and older. Bothstudies found that the late life exercise patterns of elderly
women appear rooted in their pasts. These physically active
women hung on to a concept of themselves as physically
active. However, findings suggest that the continuity of aphysically active lifestyle was affected by gender socialization, ageist attitudes, and physical challenges. In addition,
they found that social empowerment during adulthood anda commitment to exercise through later life were importantto remaining physically active. Older women judge theirefficacy for exercise based on their understanding ofperceived health, chronological age, and previous skills[42]. The findings support the self-determination theory,
which argues that experiences about physical competence
might have roots in early mastery experiences. In mostcases, positive social support from parents, peers, andteachers was a feature of the participants’ early experiencesof physical activity.
The attitudes of older people toward physical activity
may sometimes be undermined by prevailing attitudes thatolder people are passive members of society who need torest. Long working hours and other responsibilities may
have prevented people from participating in physicalactivity in earlier life, and thus, exercise skills have notdeveloped. In addition, physical activity behaviour issusceptible to changes in environmental factors, such aslatent age discrimination in exercise clubs, the accessibilityof exercise facilities, leadership, and role models. For
example, in a systematic review of qualitative research into

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barriers and motivations to physical activity [43], older
adults identified cost and time barriers as the main
problems. The lack of realistic role models in thecommunity was a deterrent. Exercise prescriptions wereperceived as targeted at young people and not relevant toolder groups. Some older adults were unsure about the“right amount” of physical activity for someone of theirage. The health benefits of physical activity were emphasized in terms of reducing the effects of aging and being fit
and able to play with the grandchildren. The studies
reviewed also highlighted the importance of social networks in maintaining participation.

The role of transitions and life changes
Lifespan is characterized by various important, temporally
arranged transitions. These include the transition from earlychildhood to formal schooling, the transition from childhood to puberty, the transition from school to the work,
marriage, children with associated responsibilities, andretirement. In addition to these transitions are factors orlife events that may influence the transitions or create newones, for example, the occurrence of a disease, job changes,
ecological and social and political events (changes inpolitical power, war, etc.). Earlier events in the life span
may condition later events and in turn influence patterns ofstability (tracking) or instability (change, low tracking).
Earlier events may thus predict the present levels ofactivity, but they do not predict the future. Changes inpatterns of physical activity related to specific events in thelifespan help us to better understand the stability or
instability of habitual physical activity in individuals andgroups [30].
It is important to study transitions and life changes
because individuals or groups may be more receptive tohealth-promoting interventions around the times of thesetransitions [44]. However, it is currently somewhat unclear
which transitions are most important and what factors areassociated with changes in physical activity at these times.
Physical activity behavior changes over the life course, andindividuals add and delete behaviors in their life, butsometimes, changes may be gradual or changes in physicalactivity behavior may occur during periods of life transition
when individuals’ roles, relationships, and ecologicalcontexts are altered. The transition from one school to thenext, going to college or university, marriage, becoming aparent, and retirement have been found to be periods forchange in physical activity behavior [45, 46]. In a review
by Allender et al. [47], which consists of 19 publications,five life change categories were found: change in employment status, change in residence, change in physical status,change in relationships, and change in family structure. The

Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

review suggests that life change events affect participationin physical activity, generally decreasing participation after
a change in employment or a change in residence status or
having children, but having no effect during pregnancy, oreven producing some increase in participation. After
serious diseases, the results have varied; in two studies ofwomen with cancer, Pinto et al. [48] found no change inexercise participation, but Satia et al. [49] reported anincrease in physical activity participation over a 2-year
period of follow-up. Brown et al. [50] studied young(22–27 years), middle-aged (51–56 years), and older(73–78 years) Australian women on two occasions, 3 years
apart. Decreasing physical activity was associated withmarriage and childbirth in young women and withdeclining health in older women. Increasing physicalactivity was associated with retirement and the death of a
spouse in the middle-aged women. Stressful events such as
divorce, harassment at work, and violence were also
associated with changing physical activity.
Lunn et al. [39] presented some interesting recall datafrom a representative sample of 3,080 adults with a medianage of 41 in Ireland. The study identified key transitions inthe sports and exercise life course. Among the various
significant associations, the importance of the periodaround the end of secondary schooling and the change inthe relationship between the sexes was emphasized. The
likelihood of making the transition from secondary schooling and hence continuing to participate in later adulthood isstrongly linked to background characteristics, especiallysocioeconomic status. Income and educational attainment
seemed to be a strong determinant of participation,
especially of taking up individual activities. The findings
revealed that participation in sports and exercise is higher inmore recent cohorts.
Retirement allows people ample opportunity to bephysically active in their leisure time. There are also social
factors and particular times of life among adults and older
adults in retirement, which may have an adverse effect onparticipation in physical activity, such as becoming disabled
and the death of a spouse. Thus, also the results in different
studies have varied. Slingerland et al. [6] examined theeffect of retirement on changes in physical activity in the
GLOBEStudy, in the Dutch 13-year prospective follow-up
into retirement of employees aged 40–65 years at baseline
after which they were still employed or had retired.
Physical activity included work-related transportation,
sports participation, and other leisure-time physical activity.
They found that physical activity associated with workrelated transportation greatly decreased and that the
reduction was not compensated by increased sports participation or other leisure-time physical activity. Touvier et al.
[50] investigated the relationships between retirement and3-year changes in leisure-time physical activity patterns and19

sedentary behavior (watching television) in middle-aged
45–64-year-old French adults. Mean leisure-time physicalactivity increased by about 2 h/week in men and women
who had retired, whereas no change was observed in
employed persons. The positive change in leisure-time
physical activity following retirement was mainly related to
an increase in activities of moderate intensity, such as
walking. Retirement did not modify the ranking of the mostfrequently performed leisure time physical activities, but
the number of participants and the duration increased
through retirement. Retirement was also associated withtime spent watching TV. The study by Chung et al. [51]found that physical activity decreased with retirement froma physically demanding job but increased with retirementfrom a sedentary job in the Health and Retirement Study(1996–2002) conducted in the USA.
It is probable that many transitions and life events areimportant and individually, socially, and economicallydetermined, and thus, there are also multiple possibilities
why people become physically active. It seems that alreadyfrom very a young age, physical activity and sports
participation are a key factor in building a future physically
active lifestyle and thus a long-lasting habit. In somestudies, retirement appears to be associated with a relative
reduction in physical activity [6], although leisure timephysical activity may increase [6, 51, 52], while theobjective opportunities for being more physically active
are better after retirement. Being physically active in older
age has great health benefits, and it is important thatphysical activity promotion is targeted toward people whoare preparing for retirement and who have recently retired.

Promotion of physical activity over the life course
The factors that influence physical activity during the life
course are many, and most studies of tracking do notinclude such correlates or covariates. However, programs
and policies will benefit from more information on thereasons why and when people start a physically active wayof life or discovering whether critical times for stopping
participation exist. Why do some people maintain their
physical activity over long time periods while others remain
inactive? What determinants are related to changing to amore active or more inactive lifestyle? Li et al. [1] found intheir review article that relatively little is known about
decline in physically active lifestyle, including whether it
occurs in all domains of physical activity. Of special
interest from a population health and prevention perspective
is identifying the characteristics of those who maintain theirlevel of capability and function at a higher level than would
be expected from their lifetime exposure, or are able torecover after adverse health events [2]. The role of physical20

activity may be very important. There is presumably a wide
continuum of physical activity levels among people withand without health problems, and it is known that despite
the overall greater risk, people with even severe healthproblems may be able to prevent further disability andmortality by means of physical exercise [53].
Implications for how physical activity policy is applied
over the life course suggests targeting lower socioeconomic
groups in early adulthood, offering special support fromteachers and a broader range of activities to young women.
A wide range of extracurricular physical activities should be
provided by schools and more opportunities made available
for self-organized activities close to residential areas todecrease social inequality. In addition, a child needs
physical competence, parent support, direct helps fromparents, and support from significant others, e.g., peers [7].
In adulthood, when physical activity is seen as sociocultural by nature, the need for repeated social reinforcement especially in transition periods or life change periods,
such as a change in employment status, change ofresidence, and change in family structure, is emphasized[47]. At the individual level, being obese, a smoker, andless well-educated may increase the probability of remaining sedentary. Starting and keeping up physical activities
during one’s adult years require determination. The challenge seems to be simultaneously personal and political.
One of the challenges facing politicians and professionals is
to understand difficulties at the individual level and thestructural aspects behind people’s behavior. Information on
the negative side of tracking is important in the planning ofintervention. It may be a kind of chain reaction—older
habits (especially inactivity) seem to remain unchanged indifferent stages of life. However, earlier experiences could
be transformed again by later positive experiences, e.g.,interventions that increase levels of physical activity in the
short term could be a start to increasing long-term physicalactivity and also health and longevity. Intervention conditions supporting the individual’s experience of autonomy,competence, and relatedness may generate fruitful consequences [33]. There is also a need for ecological andcultural support such as the World Health Organization’s
project Healthy Cities [54], which identified a wide rangeof aspects and determinants that exert an influence at thecommunity level. These include neighborhoods and saferoutes to work that encourage walking and cycling,
providing opportunities for physical activity at the workplace (such as fitness programs, showers, and changing
rooms) and creating opportunities for work colleagues to be
active together during breaks and after work hours.
All in all, the ongoing improvements in the educational
level, health status, and functional capacity of the elderly
population probably enable a larger proportion of older
people than previously to exercise. Furthermore, seeing old

Eur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

age as an active phase of life is becoming the predominantview in present-day society. Culture and policy in communities and society as a whole are key determinants ofphysical activity. The European Network for Action on
Aging and Physical Activity proposed that national policy
approaches should be sought to increase physical activity
for older adults [55]. Effective policy approaches areenhanced access to physical activity places (e.g., groups,
transportation to venues for physical activity), urban
planning approaches, and infrastructure changes. In addition, life transitions such as retirement may be a newopportunity to start a more active lifestyle, especially interms of leisure-time physical activity. For older people,
regular physical activity is pictured as an important lifestyle
behavior, which increases active life expectancy through its
influence on chronic disease risk factors, and is associatedwith better mental and cognitive health [56, 57] and social
integration [58]. A recent American College of Sport
Medicine Position Stand provides a summary of the mostimportant issues connected with exercise and physicalactivity in older adults [59]. Several evidence-based
conclusions were drawn from exercise and physical activity
programs on health and functional capacity in previously
sedentary individuals. One of these was the conclusion thatphysical activity self-efficacy is an important predictor ofsustained behavioral change in sedentary populations [60].
The elderly population requires special attention, andsupporting the individual’s experience of autonomy, competence, and relatedness is essential to form motivation andpersistence in physical activity [31, 32, 34]. The satisfactionof these basic needs through physical activity provides
older people with enjoyment and intrinsic motivation.
Extending and applying recent advances grounded in selfdetermination theory over the life course would potentiallyhelp in understanding older people’s physical activity
behaviors [61].

Conclusion
An individual’s cultural and socioeconomic background
may produce a cumulative increase or decrease in activity
in different phases of life that accentuates differentiations inphysically active lifestyle. It is essential to accept that thereis clear polarization by gender and social background inlifelong physical activity behavior. For physical and healtheducation and interventions, it is important to be familiar
with people’s earlier activity levels and past attitudes inorder that those who are not so active can be helped
appropriately to adopt new activities. Positive patterns
should be created as early as possible by means of new
skills and good experiences and sustained supporting ofautonomy, competence, and relatedness in those who haveEur Rev Aging Phys Act (2011) 8:13–22

the most to gain from adopting them. There is a clear needfor more long-term intervention studies and repeatedfollow-up assessments to track the process of adherence
and relapse. Future research could focus more on the longterm pathways for a lower or higher level of physicalactivity in different social circumstances and on interventions for these groups, the role played by physical activity
in various life transitions, and the processes of possible
accumulation effects.
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