Effect of adult leader participation on physical activity in children

Abstract

Background: Participation in physically active games is one way to increase energy expendture in children. However, it is unknown whether adult leader participation (LP) in games can impact children’s physical activity (PA) levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of LP compared to no LP on PA levels among children participating in organized active games. Methods: Children (n = 14) in grades 4-6 (Male = 42.8%, White = 50%, Overweight/ Obese = 42.8%) participated in four active games across two consecutive days. Each day, children participated in two 16-minute games and received verbal encouragement from an adult leader. Each game was divided into four-minute intervals alternating between LP or no LP. LP was counter-balanced across two days. Each child wore an Actigraph GT1M accelerometer. Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), vigorous PA (VPA), and sedentary behavior (SB) was determined by Freedson’s MET prediction. Data were analyzed using a condition (LP or no LP) by game repeated-measures ANCOVA. Results: Children participated in MVPA 52.3% of game time across all games. There were no differences in MVPA, VPA, and SB by gender, weight status, or ethnicity. LP and no LP conditions were not different for MVPA, VPA, or SB. Conclusions: These results show no effect of LP on PA in children during active games. It may be that LP could not increase PA because the children were already exhibiting high levels of MVPA.

Share and Cite:

Hastmann, T. , Foster, K. , Rosenkranz, R. , Rosenkranz, S. and Dzewaltowski, D. (2012) Effect of adult leader participation on physical activity in children. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2, 429-435. doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2012.24061.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Ogden, C.L., Carroll, M.D., Curtin, L.R., Lam, M.M. and Flegal, K.M (2010) Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents, 2007-2008. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 303, 242-249. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.2012
[2] Nelson, M.C., Gordon-Larsen, P., North, K.E. and Adair, L.S. (2006) Body mass index gain, fast food, and physical activity: Effects of shared environments over time. Obesity, 14, 701-709. doi:10.1038/oby.2006.80
[3] US Department of Health and Human Services (2008) Physical activity guidelines for Americans. http://www.health.gov/PAguidelines/pdf/paguide.pdf
[4] Troiano, R.P., Berrigan, D., Dodd, K.W., Masse, L.C., Tilert, T. and McDowell, M. (2008) Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40, 181-188.
[5] Dzewaltowski, D.A. (2008) Community out-of-school physical activity promotion. In: Smith, A.L. and Biddle, S.J.H., Eds., Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: Challenges and Salutations, Human Kinetics, Champaign, 377-401.
[6] Bandura, A. (1986) Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice Hill, Englewood Cliffs.
[7] Patnode, C.D., Lytle, L.A., Erickson, D.J., Sirard, J.R., Barr-Anderson, D. and Story, M. (2010) The relative influence of demographic, individual, social, and environmental factors on physical activity among boys and girls. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 3, 79. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-7-79
[8] Sallis, J.F., Taylor, W.C., Dowda, M., Freedson, P.S. and Pate, R.R. (2002) Correlates of vigorous physical activity for children in grades 1 through 12: Comparing parent- reported and objectively measured physical activity. Pediatric Exercise Science, 14, 30-44.
[9] Brink, L.A., Nigg, C.R., Lampe, S.M., Kingston, B.A., Mootz, A.L. and van Vliet, W. (2010) Influence of school- yard renovations on children’s physical activity: The learning landscapes program. American Journal of Public Health, 100, 1672-1678. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.178939
[10] Ridgers, N.D., Fairclough, S.J and Stratton, G. (2010) Twelve-month effects of a playground intervention on children’s morning and lunchtime recess physical activity levels. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 7, 137-175.
[11] Ridgers, N.D., Stratton, G., Fairclough, S.J. and Twisk, J.W. (2007) Children’s physical activity levels during school recess: A quasi-experimental intervention study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 4, 19-28. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-4-19
[12] Verstraete, S.J., Cardon, G.M., De Clercq, D.L. and De Bourgdeaudjuih, I.M. (2006) Increasing children’s physical activity levels during recess periods in elementary schools: The effects of providing game equipment. European Journal of Public Health, 16, 415-419. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl008
[13] McKenzie, T.L., Crespo, N.C., Baquero, B. and Elder, J.P. (2010) Leisure-time physical activity in elementary schools: Analysis of contextual conditions. Journal of School Health, 80, 470-477. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00530.x
[14] Salmon, J., Brown, H. and Hume, C. (2009) Effects of strategies to promote children’s physical activity on potential mediators. International Journal of Obesity, 33, S66-S73. doi:10.1038/ijo.2009.21
[15] Van Der Horst, K., Paw, M.J., Twisk, J. W. and Van Mechelen, W. (2007) A brief review on correlates of physical activity and sedentariness in youth. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 39, 1241-1250. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318059bf35
[16] Davison, K.K. and Jago, R. (2009) Change in parent and peer support across ages 9 to 15 yr and adolescent girls’ physical activity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41, 1816-1825. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181a278e2
[17] Gattshall, M.L., Shoup, J.A., Marshall, J.A., Crane, L.A. and Estabrooks, P.A. (2008) Validation of a survey instrument to assess home environments for physical activ ity and healthy eating in over-weight children. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5, 1-13. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-5-3
[18] Sallis, J.F., Alcaraz, J.E., McKenzie, T.L., Hovell, M.F., Kolody, B. and Nader, P.R. (1992) Parental behavior in relation to physical activity and fitness in 9-year-old children. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 146, 1383-1388.
[19] Zecevic, C.A., Tremblay, L., Lovsin, T. and Lariviere M. (2010) Parental influence on young children’s physical activity. International Journal of Pediatrics, 2010, 9p. doi:10.1155/2010/468526
[20] Trost, S.G., Sallis, J.F., Pate, R.R., Freedson, P.S., Taylor, W.C. and Dowda, M. (2003) Evaluation a model of parental influence on youth physical activity. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 25, 277-282. doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(03)00217-4
[21] Paez, S., Maloney, A., Kelsey, K., Wiesen, C. and Rosenberg, A. (2009) Parental and environmental factors associated with physical activity among children participating in an active video game. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 21, 245-253. doi:10.1097/PEP.0b013e3181b13a82
[22] Donnelly, J.E., Greene, J.L., Gibson, C.A., Smith, B.K., Washburn, R.A., Sullivan, D.K., et al. (2009) Physical activity across the curriculum (PAAC): A randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Preventive Medicine, 49, 336-341. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.07.022
[23] Brown, W.H., Pfeiffer, K.A., McIver, K.L., Dowda, M., Addy, C.L. and Pate, R.R. (2009) Social and environment factors associated with pre-schoolers’ nonsedentary physical activity. Child Development, 80, 45-58. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01245.x
[24] McKenzie, T.L., Strikmiller, P.K., Stone, E.J., Woods, S.E., Ehlinger, S.S., Romero, K.A., et al. (1994) CATCH: Physical activity process evaluation in a multicenter trial. Health Education Quarterly, 2, S73-S89.
[25] Kuczmarski, R.J., Ogden, C.L., Grummer-Strawn, L.M., Flegal, K.M., Guo, S.S., Wei, R., et al. (2000) CDC growth charts: United States. Advance Data, 314, 1-27.
[26] Taylor, R.W., Jones, I.E., Williams, S.M. and Goulding, A. (2002) Body fat percentages measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry corresponding to recently recommended body mass index cutoffs for overweight and obesity in children and adolescents aged 3-18 y. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 76, 1416-1421.
[27] Trost, S.G., McIver, K.L. and Pate, R.R. (2005) Conducting accelerometer-based activity assessments in field-based research. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37, S531-43. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000185657.86065.98
[28] Mattocks, C., Leary, S., Ness, A., Deere, K., Saunders, J., Kirkby, J., et al. (2007) Intraindividual variation of objectively measured physical activity in children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 39, 622-629. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318030631b
[29] Freedson, P., Pober, D. and Janz, K.F. (2005) Calibration of accelerometer output for children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37, S523-S30.
[30] Foster, K.E., Behrens, T.K., Jager, A.L., Dze-waltowski, D.A. (2010) Effect of elimination games on physical activity and psychosocial responses in children. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 7, 475-483.
[31] Prochaska, J.J., Sallis, J.F. and Long, B. (2001). A physiccal activity screening measure for use with adolescents in primary care. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 155, 554-559.
[32] Sithole, F. and Veugelers, P.J. (2008) Parent and child reports of children’s activity. Health Reports (Statistics Canada), 19, 19-24.
[33] Mota, J., Silva, P., Santos, M.P., Ribeiro, J.C., Oliveira, J. and Duarte, J.A. (2005) Physical activity and school recess time: Differences between the sexes and the relationship between children’s physical activity and habitual physical activity. Journal of Sports Sciences, 23, 269-275. doi:10.1080/02640410410001730124
[34] Stratton, G., Ridgers, N.D., Fairclough, S.J. and Richardson, D.J. (2007) Physical activity levels of normal-weight ad overweight girls and boys during primary school recess. Obesity, 15, 1513-1519. doi:10.1038/oby.2007.179
[35] Coleman, K.J., Geller, K.S., Rosenkranz, R.R. and Dzewaltowski, D.A. (2008) Physical activity and health eating in the after-school environment. Journal of School Health, 78, 633-640. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00359.x
[36] Cullen, K.W. Baranowski, T., Rittenberry, L., Cosart, C., Hebert, D. and de Moor, C. (2001) Child-reported family and peer influences on fruit, juice and vegetable consumption: Reliability and validity of measures. Health Education Research, 16, 187-200. doi:10.1093/her/16.2.187
[37] Hendy, H.M. and Raudenbush, B. (2000) Effectiveness of teacher modeling to encourage food acceptance in pre-school children. Appetite, 34, 61-76. doi:10.1006/appe.1999.0286
[38] Baquet, G., Stratton, G., Van Praagh, E. and Berthoin, S. (2007) Improving physical activity assessment in prepubertal children with high-frequency accelerometry monitoring: A methodological issue. Preventive Medicine, 44, 143-147. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.10.004

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.