Free Time and Physical Activity Among Americans 15 Years or Older: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the American Time Use Survey

Abstract

Introduction

Many Americans fail to meet physical activity guidelines. We investigated whether this failure is due in part to a lack of free time.

Methods

We analyzed data from the American Time Use Survey, 2014 through 2016, with 32,048 respondents aged 15 years or older, categorizing every activity during a 24-hour period. Free or leisure time includes time spent socializing, being entertained, in sports and recreation activities, volunteering, in religious activities, taking classes for personal interest, and in associated travel time. Working in the labor market, education (unless only for personal interest), household work and home production (cooking, cleaning, child care, shopping), or self-care (sleeping, eating, grooming) are not free time. We stratified by sociodemographic characteristics, health, and body mass index, and we calculated descriptive statistics adjusted for the multistage sampling design.

Results

Americans averaged more than 5 hours (>300 minutes) of free time per day; no subgroup reported having less than 4.5 hours (270 minutes) of free time. Men had more free time (mean [standard deviation], 356 [3] min/d) and spent more on leisure time physical activity (mean [SD], 24 [3] min/d) than women did (free time mean [SD], 318 [2] min/d, P < .001; and leisure time physical activity mean [SD], 14 [1] min/d, P < .001). Compared with those with a higher income and a college education, those with income below 185% of federal poverty guidelines and those with a high school education reported more free time but spent more time on television, movies, and other screen time and less on physical activity (all comparisons P < .001).

Conclusion

Lack of free time is not responsible for low levels of leisure time physical activity at the population level.