Wilén Charlotte, Ahlqvist Viktor H, Chen Chu, Neovius Martin, Magnusson Cecilia, Henriksson Pontus, Dahlén Micael, Sander Erik, Berglind Daniel
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Pediatr. 2025 Apr 16;25(1):298. doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-05651-3.
Encouraging children to participate in organized sports could increase physical activity and may promote lifelong healthy habits. There are socioeconomic disparities in organized sports participation in school-aged children and adolescents. However, it is not known if these socioeconomic disparities exist among preschool-aged children.
The purpose of this study was to examine (i) the association between organized sports participation and physical activity (ii) differences in organized sports participation according to socioeconomic status among preschool children.
The study sample was a representative population-based sample of 2935 preschool-aged children (48.3% girls; age range 2-6 years) in Stockholm, Sweden. Physical activity was measured using GT3X + accelerometers for one week at the fall of 2020 or in the spring of 2021 and organized sports participation was parent-reported. Parental education and a Stockholm based socioeconomic index were used to examine socioeconomic disparities. Linear regression was used to estimate associations between organized sports participation and physical activity and multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the differences in organized sports participation over parental education and neighborhood socioeconomic index.
The study population had a mean age of 4.5 years (SD = 0.9), consisted of 48.3% girls and spent in average 46.5 min (SD = 15.4) engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity per day. Additionally, 1,658 children (56.5%) did not participate in organized sports. Participation in organized sports once a week or more was associated with a 2.8-min increase in average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (95% CI; 1.56, 4.06), compared to not participating. Further, both living in a higher socioeconomic index area and higher parental education was associated with higher organized sports participation.
Participation in organized sports indicates a modest contribution to physical activity among preschool-aged children. However, participation in organized sports varies according to neighborhood socioeconomic index and parental education. These findings highlight the importance of targeting organized sport participation according to socioeconomic gradients, to moderate inequities in access and opportunity to organized sport.
鼓励儿童参与有组织的体育活动可以增加身体活动，并可能促进终身健康习惯。学龄儿童和青少年在参与有组织的体育活动方面存在社会经济差异。然而，尚不清楚这些社会经济差异在学龄前儿童中是否存在。
本研究的目的是检验（i）有组织的体育活动参与与身体活动之间的关联，以及（ii）学龄前儿童中根据社会经济地位划分的有组织体育活动参与差异。
研究样本是瑞典斯德哥尔摩2935名学龄前儿童（48.3%为女孩；年龄范围2至6岁）的具有代表性的基于人群的样本。在2020年秋季或2021年春季使用GT3X + 加速度计测量身体活动一周，有组织的体育活动参与情况由家长报告。使用父母教育程度和基于斯德哥尔摩的社会经济指数来检验社会经济差异。线性回归用于估计有组织的体育活动参与与身体活动之间的关联，多项逻辑回归用于估计在父母教育程度和邻里社会经济指数方面有组织的体育活动参与的差异。
研究人群的平均年龄为4.5岁（标准差 = 0.9），48.3%为女孩，每天平均花费46.5分钟（标准差 = 15.4）进行中度至剧烈身体活动。此外，1658名儿童（56.5%）未参与有组织的体育活动。与不参与相比，每周参加一次或更多次有组织的体育活动与平均每日中度至剧烈身体活动增加2.8分钟相关（95%置信区间；1.56，4.06）。此外，生活在社会经济指数较高的地区和父母教育程度较高都与较高的有组织体育活动参与相关。
参与有组织的体育活动对学龄前儿童的身体活动有适度贡献。然而，有组织的体育活动参与因邻里社会经济指数和父母教育程度而异。这些发现凸显了根据社会经济梯度针对有组织的体育活动参与进行干预的重要性，以缓解在参与有组织体育活动的机会和途径方面的不平等。
