Recreational screen time, sedentary behavior, and moderate to vigorous physical activity in 11-year-old children

Abstract

Problem statement:Previous research has focused on the multiple effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior. However, the associations between physical activity and sedentary behaviorneed more research. Recreational screen time, a part of children’s sedentary behavior, has increased rapidly during the last few decades,and threatens to conquer time undertakingphysical activities. Purpose: This quantitative case study aimed to examinechildren’s recreational screen time, sedentary behavior and moderate to vigorous physical activity, and especially the associations between them. Approach: The convenience sample consisted of 33 11year-old children (20 boys, 13 girls) from a primary school in the capital area of Finland. Sedentary behavior and moderate to vigorous physical activitywere objectively registered for seven consecutive days and nights with wrist-worn accelerometers. Recreational screen time was self-reported. Main results: Boys spent three times more hours on recreational screen time than girls did during schooldays, and four times more during the weekend. An increase in sedentary behavior was associated with a decrease in moderate to vigorous physical activity. During the weekend, children accumulated less moderate to vigorous physical activity and more sedentary behavior. Recreational screen time was not associated with sedentary behavior, but a negative association with boys’ moderate to vigorous physical activity was found.Conclusions: The results suggest that sedentary behavior and especially boys’ recreational screen time have a ‘tug of war’ with their moderate to vigorous physical activity for their shares of children’s time use. Atthe school level, these results provide adviceto make schooldays more physically active, and for physical educationteachers to motivate children to engage more in physical activities instead of sedentary behavior during leisure time. Additionally, screen gamesthat aremore physically active need to be developed, because pursuits of strongly limiting recreational screen time may be fighting a losing battle. Future research: Sedentary behavior, recreational screen time and different intensity levels of physical activity together with sleep time, should be studied with bigdata andobjectivemeasurements during all seasons of the year, and in at least weeklong periods.