Popularity and Friendships and Their Relationship to Physical Activity Before and After Transition to a Higher School Grade

Kenda C. Swanson, Alberto Nettel-Aguirre and Gavin R. McCormack
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Kenda C. Swanson: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
Alberto Nettel-Aguirre: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
Gavin R. McCormack: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-11

Abstract: Background This study investigated the relationships between children’s friendship ties and their physical activity (PA) both before and after their transition to a new school year. Methods In 2011–2012, children in grades 5–8 attending a Canadian urban middle-school completed web-based health and friendship surveys two times before (“pre-transition”) and three times after (“post-transition”) they moved up in school grade. Cross-sectional associations between an average daily frequency of ≥60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) and characteristics of children’s friendships were estimated for pre-transition ( n = 191) and post-transition ( n = 255) data. Sociodemographic-adjusted linear regression (β) estimated associations between a child’s MVPA and friendship characteristics. Results We found positive associations between a child’s MVPA and the average MVPA of their friends at post-transition only (β = 0.61, 95% CI 0.10 to 1.13) and the number of sent friendships at pre-transition (β = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.05) and post-transition (β = 0.02, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.04). A statistically significant interaction between popularity and friends’ average PA at pre-transition was also found. Conclusions The PA of friends and the number of school friends that a child identified are positively associated with MVPA. The estimated associations between MVPA and aspects of children’s friendships are similar for boys and girls.

Keywords: exercise; child; school; social support; social network; friendship; peers; physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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