Movement in High School: Proportion of Chinese Adolescents Meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines

Li Ying, Xihe Zhu, Justin Haegele and Yang Wen
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Li Ying: School of Sport and Physical Education, Huainan Normal University, Huainan 232038, Anhui Prov, China
Xihe Zhu: Department of Human Movement Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23508, USA
Justin Haegele: Department of Human Movement Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23508, USA
Yang Wen: Center of Jiangsu Sports Health Engineering Collaborative Innovation, Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing 210014, Jiangsu Prov, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-9

Abstract: The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the proportions of adolescents in China who partially or fully meet three 24-h movement guidelines on physical activity, screen-time, and sleep duration and (b) to examine whether there were gender differences in the proportion of boys and girls meeting these guidelines. The sample was made up of high school adolescents from an eastern province of China ( N = 1338). The participants completed a self-reported survey on demographic variables and weekly health behaviors including physical activity, screen-time, and sleep duration. A frequency analysis was conducted to summarize the number of 24-h movement guidelines met of the total sample and by gender; chi-squared tests were used to examine the gender differences in the proportion of students meeting different guidelines, independently and jointly. A high proportion of adolescents did not meet physical activity (97.2%, 95% CI = 96.2–98.0%), or sleep (92.1%, 95% CI = 90.6–93.5%) guidelines, but met screen-time (93.6%, 95% CI = 92.4–94.7%) guidelines. Overall, only 0.3% (95%CI = 0.1–0.6%) of the sample met all three guidelines, 8.8% (95%CI = 7.5–10.2%) met two, 85.8%% (95%CI = 84.0–87.4%) met one, and 5.1% (95%CI = 4.0–6.4%) met none. There was no statistically significant percentage difference between female and male participants in meeting physical activity, screen-time viewing, or sleep duration guidelines, independently or jointly ( p values > 0.05). These figures of participants meeting all three guidelines or physical activity and sleep independently are much lower than many estimates in prior research internationally. Considerations to improve adherence to physical activity and sleep guidelines are critical in this population.

Keywords: adolescence; gender; screen time; sleep; physical activity; prevalence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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