Social and family factors as determinants of exercise habits in Japanese elementary school children: a cross-sectional s
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(2020) 25:54
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Social and family factors as determinants of exercise habits in Japanese elementary school children: a cross-sectional study from the Super Shokuiku School Project Satomi Sawa1* , Michikazu Sekine2, Masaaki Yamada2, Yugo Fukazawa3 and Yusuke Hiraku4
Abstract Background: Many studies have already reported on the relationship between exercise habits and health among schoolchildren. However, few have examined social and/or family factors as determinants of exercise habits. Methods: This study’s participants included 1721 schoolchildren aged between 6 and 13 who were involved in the Super Shokuiku School Project in January 2016. A survey was conducted to assess gender, grade level, physical activity, lifestyle, overall health, enrichment of school life, social background, and parental lifestyles. Both dislike and lack of physical activity were used to measure poor exercise habits; correlates were analyzed using logistic regression. Results: “Lack of close friends” had the strongest links with both dislike (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 5.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.78–10.1) and lack of (adjusted OR 5.40; 95% CI, 2.81–10.4) physical activity. Further, children who engaged in long periods of screen time and lacked parental communication also tended to dislike and lack physical activity. Children with mothers who were unemployed (housewives) and had unhealthy lifestyles, as well as those with poor health, were also more likely to lack physical activity. Conclusion: Social and family factors (e.g., having close friends) may be determinants of exercise habits among schoolchildren, independent of their own lifestyle factors. Although a longitudinal study is needed to determine causality, substantial attention may thus be required to these factors when promoting physical activity in children. Keywords: Elementary school children, Physical activity, Parental lifestyle, Social background
Background The Physical and Athletic Aptitude Survey [1] conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) indicates that there is a widening physical ability gap between children who engage in physical activity and those who do not [2]. Moreover, the number of children who do not exercise * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 School of Human Development, University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 930-8555, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
increases with age [3]. Such reductions may be associated with lower levels of motivation, emotional strength, and the ability to form interpersonal relationships. As a consequence, lack of physical activity may negatively influence psychosocial development [4]. The Japan Sports Agency has thus proposed a goal of increasing the rate of sports participation from 58.7 to 80% among junior high school students (aged between 13 and 15) while decreasing the percentage of them who dislike sports from 16.4 to 8% by the year 2022
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