Adolescents' sporting and leisure time physical activities during their 15th year
Reeder, A.I.; Stanton, W.R.; Langley, J.D.; Chalmers, D.J.
Canadian Journal of Sport Sciences 16(4): 308-315
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0833-1235 PMID: 1663833 Document Number: 368202
Participation in physical activity may influence health outcomes, so its quantification is important. There are few data on adolescent physical activities. Recall of physical activity in the preceding year was obtained from a birth cohort of 799 15-year-old adolescents in New Zealand using a modified version of the Minnesota Leisure Time Activities Questionnaire. Mean total participation times were relatively high, with 612 hrs/year (1.68 hrs/day) for males and 401 hrs/year (1.1 hrs/day) for females. Individual total participation ranged from less than a minute to 6.5 hrs/day. Over 10% more females than males reported netball, equestrian activities, and dancing, and at least 10% more males reported cricket, rugby, fishing, soccer, squash, golf, and surfing. Ranked by mean participation time, equestrian activity was highest for females and walking was highest for males. Cycling and swimming represented the largest proportion of total group participation time. The sample will be followed up at age 18 years.