Urban-rural differences in children’s and adolescent’s physical activity and screen time trends across 15 years

Mini-Oral Presentation B1.7

Authors

  • Carina Nigg University of Bern; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • Christoph Weber University of Education Upper Austria; Johannes Kepler University
  • Jasper Schipperijn University of Southern Denmark
  • Markus Reichert Ruhr University Bochum
  • Doris Oriwol Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; University of Education Karlsruhe
  • Annette Worth University of Education Karlsruhe
  • Alexander Woll Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • Claudia Niessner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.596

Keywords:

Urban, Rural, Trend, Inequality, Children, Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Urban and rural areas experienced rapid developments over the last decade, but it is unclear how youth’s physical activity and screen time have developed across urban and rural areas. Purpose: To investigate youth’s physical activity and screen time trends across urban and rural areas. Methods: We obtained weighted data of three cross-sectional studies of the German nationally representative Motorik-Modul (MoMo) Study at three timepoints between 2003 and 2017 (N=12,161, age=4-17 years). We analyzed trends in self-reported physical activity and screen time domains over time and across four urbanicity levels (rural, small town, medium-sized town, city) using structural equation modeling. Results: A 30.26 minutes/week-decrease in total physical activity was only observed in rural areas. Leisure time physical activity and outdoor play decreased across all levels, with the strongest decline in rural areas (leisure time physical activity: -41.00 minutes/week, outdoor play: -0.54 days/week). Physical education and extracurricular sports increased between 4.74-7.20 minutes/week across all levels. Computer and gaming time increased across all levels except cities, with the strongest increase in rural areas (+36.66 minutes/day). The decline in outdoor play was driven by adolescents, the incline in computer and gaming time by adolescents and girls. Conclusion: Detrimental trends in physical activity and screen time occur at higher rates in rural areas, contributing to the urban-rural health gap. Rural youth should be specifically targeted to tackle decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing levels of screen time. Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01ER1503).

Published

2021-09-30

How to Cite

Nigg, C., Weber, C., Schipperijn, J., Reichert, M., Oriwol, D., Worth, A., Woll, A., & Niessner, C. (2021). Urban-rural differences in children’s and adolescent’s physical activity and screen time trends across 15 years: Mini-Oral Presentation B1.7. The Health & Fitness Journal of Canada, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.596

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