44
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Physical activity among children attending preschools.

      Pediatrics
      African Continental Ancestry Group, Analysis of Variance, Child, Preschool, European Continental Ancestry Group, Exercise, Female, Humans, Male, Regression Analysis, Schools, Nursery, South Carolina

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Obesity rates are increasing among children of all ages, and reduced physical activity is a likely contributor to this trend. Little is known about the physical activity behavior of preschool-aged children or about the influence of preschool attendance on physical activity. The purpose of this study was to describe the physical activity levels of children while they attend preschools, to identify the demographic factors that might be associated with physical activity among those children, and to determine the extent to which children's physical activity varies among preschools. A total of 281 children from 9 preschools wore an Actigraph (Fort Walton Beach, FL) accelerometer for an average of 4.4 hours per day for an average of 6.6 days. Each child's height and weight were measured, and parents of participating children provided demographic and education data. The preschool that a child attended was a significant predictor of vigorous physical activity (VPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Boys participated in significantly more MVPA and VPA than did girls, and black children participated in more VPA than did white children. Age was not a significant predictor of MVPA or VPA. Children's physical activity levels were highly variable among preschools, which suggests that preschool policies and practices have an important influence on the overall activity levels of the children the preschools serve.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Comments

          Comment on this article