Levels and patterns of physical activity and sedentary time among superdiverse adolescents in East London: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Little is known about the physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) habits of adolescents from superdiverse communities in the UK. The objectives of this study are to examine and report the patterns of PA/ST among adolescents in East London living in superdiverse communities, to identify opportunities/barriers to PA and inform policy/practice.

Design: A total of 1260 young people (aged 11–13 years) from seven secondary schools in East London completed a questionnaire on PA/ST over the past seven days as part of the Newham’s Every Child a Sports Person (NECaSP) intervention. Socio-demographic and anthropometric data were obtained. Significance tests were conducted to determine differences between socio-demographic and anthropometric predictors and PA/ST. Multinomial logit regression was used to explore the effects of ethnicity, sex, and body mass index (BMI) on PA levels.

Results: Males were significantly more likely to engage in PA at least five times during school in the past week (U = 5.07, z = −11.76, p < .05). Obese participants were less likely to report engaging in PA five times in the past week (U = 4.11, z =−1.17, p < .05). Black Caribbean girls (U = 5.08, z = −1.92, p < .05) were significantly more likely to report engaging in no activity. Multinomial logit regression analyses revealed that girls with higher BMI were less likely to engage in PA at least four times after school in the last week than boys (b = .11, Wald X²(1) = 9.81, p < .01). Walking (36.4%), jogging/running (29.9%), and football (28%) were the most frequently reported activities.

Conclusion: Engaging girls in PA during and after school is important and making sports clubs and activities available and attractive to this target group may help increase engagement in PA and reduce ST. Findings support the need for more sex-specific and culturally responsive pedagogy in schools with curricula that respects diversity and individuality and has meaning and value amongst superdiverse young people. Finally, we need to extend current work presented and provide substantial evidence of the ways young people from minority ethnic groups process and act on the public health policy and the ways they understand and enact PA.

KEYWORDS:

• Superdiversity
• physical activity
• ethnicity
• adolescent health
• sedentary time

Acknowledgments

We would like to say thank you to the field researchers and UEL SportsDock staff who assisted with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was received from activeNewham and the Newham Council.