Loucaides Constantinos A, Chedzoy Sue M, Bennett Neville
School of Education.ifelong Learning, University of Exeter, Exeter EX1 2LU, UK.
Health Educ Res. 2004 Apr;19(2):138-47. doi: 10.1093/her/cyg014.
This study attempted to examine differences in physical activity levels between urban and rural primary school children. The sample consisted of 256 Greek-Cypriot children and their parents from two schools representing urban areas and three schools representing rural areas. Children's activity levels were assessed for 4 weekdays in the winter and for 4 weekdays in the summer using a pedometer (DW-200; Yamax, Tokyo, Japan). Daily step counts were used to describe children's activity levels. Parents completed a questionnaire assessing environmental variables in both seasons. Two-way ANOVAs indicated that urban school children were significantly more active in winter than rural school children (means = 13,583 +/- 4,313 versus 12 436 +/- 3610, P < 0.001) and that rural school children were significantly more active in the summer (means = 16,450 +/- 5134 versus 14,531 +/- 4,901, P < 0.001). Parents of children in rural schools reported more space available in the garden and in the neighbourhoods, and safer neighbourhoods than parents of children in urban schools, whereas children in urban schools had more exercise equipment available at home and were transported more frequently to places where they could be physically active. Results of this study suggest that intervention programmes to promote physical activity need to consider seasonal and geographical location differences in physical activity levels.
本研究试图考察城乡小学生身体活动水平的差异。样本包括来自两所代表城市地区的学校和三所代表农村地区的学校的256名希族塞浦路斯儿童及其父母。使用计步器（DW - 200；日本东京百利达）在冬季的4个工作日和夏季的4个工作日评估儿童的活动水平。每日步数用于描述儿童的活动水平。父母完成了一份评估两个季节环境变量的问卷。双向方差分析表明，城市学校的儿童在冬季比农村学校的儿童明显更活跃（均值 = 13583±4313对12436±3610，P < 0.001），而农村学校的儿童在夏季明显更活跃（均值 = 16450±5134对14531±4901，P < 0.001）。农村学校儿童的父母报告说，与城市学校儿童的父母相比，自家花园和社区有更多的空间，社区也更安全，而城市学校的儿童家里有更多的健身器材，被送往能进行体育活动场所的频率更高。本研究结果表明，促进身体活动的干预计划需要考虑身体活动水平的季节和地理位置差异。
