Children who become active.

OBJECTIVES

This article examines factors associated with children aged 4 to 11 becoming and remaining active, and how this differed according to their weight.

DATA SOURCE

The data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: cycle 1 (1994/95) for the cross-sectional analysis, and cycles 1, 2 and 3 (1994/95 to 1998/99) for the longitudinal analysis.

ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

Estimates of physical activity levels in 1994/95 among acceptable-weight and overweight/obese children are presented by age, sex and selected activities (TV viewing, playing computer/video games, and hours of physical education at school). Logistic regression models were constructed for children who were inactive in 1994/95, focusing on the selected activities as predictors of adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.

MAIN RESULTS

Factors associated with children adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle differed, depending on their weight. For overweight/obese children, but not for acceptable-weight children, a relatively high number of physical education hours was predictive of becoming physically active, while frequent TV viewing lowered the odds.