Tiwari Biplav Babu, Matta Jacob, Thomsen Michael R, Da Linlin, Thapa Kiran, Shen Ye, Ingels Justin B, Rajbhandari-Thapa Janani
Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jul 18;13:1582693. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1582693. eCollection 2025.
Physical activity levels are declining among middle and high school students, and schools could provide an ideal space for engaging adolescents in physical activity. The study aimed to assess physical activity levels among male and female middle to high school students and the impact of perceived school climate.
This longitudinal study utilized the Georgia Student Health Survey (GSHS) from 2016 to 2020, with change in the proportion of physically active students as an outcome and school climate measures as predictors. Factor analysis yielded a composite index for each school climate measure. Descriptive analysis measured the trend and male vs. female differences in physical activity. A multivariable linear regression model was developed to assess the impact of school climate on physical activity and male-female differences.
The decline in physical activity with increasing grade levels was notably more pronounced in females than males. Improvement in the perception of school climate measures was consistently linked to an increased proportion of physically active students as they progressed to higher grades (for example, change in perception of school connectedness: = 5.39; < 0.001).
The study findings underscore the importance of fostering positive school climates to mitigate the decline in physical activity levels, especially among adolescent females.
中学生和高中生的身体活动水平正在下降，而学校可以为青少年参与体育活动提供理想场所。本研究旨在评估初中至高中学生的身体活动水平以及感知到的学校氛围的影响。
这项纵向研究使用了2016年至2020年的佐治亚州学生健康调查（GSHS），以身体活动学生比例的变化作为结果，学校氛围指标作为预测因素。因子分析得出了每个学校氛围指标的综合指数。描述性分析测量了身体活动的趋势以及男女差异。建立了一个多变量线性回归模型来评估学校氛围对身体活动的影响以及男女差异。
随着年级升高，身体活动水平的下降在女生中比男生中更为明显。随着学生升入更高年级，对学校氛围指标感知的改善始终与身体活动学生比例的增加相关（例如，对学校归属感感知的变化：β = 5.39；P < 0.001）。
研究结果强调了营造积极的学校氛围以缓解身体活动水平下降的重要性，尤其是在青少年女性中。
