Neighborhood and physical activities of Portuguese adolescents

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Research

Nuno Loureiro¹  Maria M Santos²  Jorge Mota²  José A Diniz³  Margarida G Matos³ 

[1] Escola Superior de Educação de Beja (ESEB), Beja, Portugal;Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Cruz, Quebrada, Portugal;Faculdade de Desporto da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal;Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Cruz, Quebrada, Portugal;

关键词: Physical Activity;    Free Time;    School Grade;    Residential Neighborhood;    Sport Practice;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1479-5868-7-33

 received in 2009-08-17, accepted in 2010-05-05,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThis study examines associations between perceptions of neighbourhood environment and physical activity and sports within Portuguese adolescents.MethodsThe sample consisted of 4,877 individuals of both genders, with an average age of 14 years. The instrument used was the Health Behavior School-aged Children questionnaire.ResultsPerceptions of the neighbourhood being unsafe for children to play and having no place to spend leisure time were associated with lower levels of exercise among adolescents. The perceptions of the neighbourhood being unsafe for children to play (OR = 1.3, p < .005) and the fact of not having a place to spend leisure time (OR = 1.3, p < .005) p < .005) were associated with lower levels of exercise among adolescents. The perception of these variables is associated to a lower probability of exercising. The neighbourhood characteristics are more important to the practice of outdoor sports than of indoor sports.ConclusionThe perceptions of the neighbourhood may influence adolescent's physical activity and sports, in different ways.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Loureiro et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.