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Does activity space size influence physical activity levels of adolescents?—A GPS study of an urban environment
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Does activity space size influence physical activity levels of adolescents?—A GPS study of an urban environment

Nolan C. Lee, Christine Voss, Amanda D. Frazer, Jana A. Hirsch, Heather A. McKay and Meghan Winters
Preventive medicine reports, v 3, pp 75-78
Jun 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.12.002
PMID: 26807349
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.12.002View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Activity space Adolescent Health promotion Physical activity Spatial behaviour Transportation
Physical activity (PA) is closely linked with child and youth health, and active travel may be a solution to enhancing PA levels. Activity spaces depict the geographic coverage of one's travel. Little is known about activity spaces and PA in adolescents. To explore the relation between adolescent travel (using a spatial measure of activity space size) and daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), with a focus on school days. We used Global Positioning Systems to manually identify trips and generate activity spaces for each person-day; quantified by area for 39 students (13.8±0.6years, 38% female) attending high school in urban Downtown Vancouver, Canada. We assessed the association between activity space area and MVPA using multi-level regression. We calculated total, school-day and trip-based MVPA for each valid person-day (accelerometry; ≥ 600min wear time). On school days, students accrued 68.2min/day (95% CI 60.4–76.0) of MVPA. Daily activity spaces averaged 2.2km2 (95% CI 1.3–3.0). There was no association between activity space size and school-day MVPA. Students accrued 21.8min/day (95% CI 19.2–24.4) of MVPA during school hours, 19.4min/day (95% CI 15.1–23.7) during travel, and 28.3min/day (95% CI 22.3–34.3) elsewhere. School and school travel are important sources of PA in Vancouver adolescents, irrespective of activity space area covered. •First study relating activity space size and adolescent school day physical activity•Our use of GPS and accelerometry enhances accuracy of findings.•No association between activity space size and physical activity on school days•Most adolescent physical activity is accrued at school or from school travel.

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