Relating outdoor play to sedentary behavior and physical activity in youth - results from a cohort study

Nigg, Carina; Niessner, Claudia; Nigg, Claudio R.; Oriwol, Doris; Schmidt, Steffen C. E.; Woll, Alexander (2021). Relating outdoor play to sedentary behavior and physical activity in youth - results from a cohort study. BMC public health, 21(1), p. 1716. BioMed Central 10.1186/s12889-021-11754-0

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Background
Outdoor play, sedentary behavior (SB), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) are related to youth’s health, however, there are research gaps regarding 1) associations between outdoor play, SB, and MVPA across a broad pediatric age range (6–17 years), and 2) longitudinal associations between outdoor play, SB, and MVPA across childhood and adolescence. Two studies were conducted to address those research gaps: Study 1 aimed to investigate relationships between outdoor play and accelerometer-assessed SB and MVPA in a cross-sectional nationwide sample of children and adolescents in Germany. Study 2 aimed to investigate prospective associations between outdoor play and self-reported screen-time SB and MVPA and in a sample of children with three measurement timepoints across 11 years.

Methods
Data were obtained of the German national representative Motorik-Modul (MoMo) Study and the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). In Study 1, N = 2278 participants (6–17 years) were included with self-reported outdoor play and accelerometer-assessed SB and MVPA. Associations were examined via multiple linear regressions. In Study 2, N = 570 participants (baseline: 4–7 years) were included in the longitudinal analysis with follow-ups six and 11 years later. Screen-time SB (TV watching and PC/Gaming), MVPA, and outdoor play were self-reported. Associations were investigated through a path prediction model.

Results
Study 1 showed that compared to <1 h outdoor play, higher engagement in daily outdoor play was related to lower SB (1-2 h: − 9.75 min/day, P = 0.017; ≥2 h: − 17.78 min/day, P < 0.001) and higher MVPA (≥2 h: + 3.87 min/day, P = 0.001). The cross-sectional relationship between MVPA and outdoor play was moderated by sex (in favor of males) and age (in favor of younger children). Study 2 showed that outdoor play in early childhood negatively predicted PC use/Gaming in later childhood, but was unrelated to MVPA.

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