Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Compensation or displacement of physical activity in middle-school girls: the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls

International Journal of Obesity volume 34, pages 1193–1199 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

The ‘activitystat’ hypothesis suggests that increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) are accompanied by a compensatory reduction in light physical activity (LPA) and/or an increase in inactivity to maintain a consistent total physical activity level (TPA). The purpose of this study was to identify the evidence of compensation in middle-school girls.

Subjects:

Participants were 6916, 8th grade girls from the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG).

Design:

Inactivity and physical activity were measured over 6- consecutive days using accelerometry (MTI Actigraph). A within-girl, repeated measures design was used to assess associations between physical activity and inactivity using general linear mixed models.

Results:

Within a given day, for every one MET-minute more of inactivity, there was 3.18 MET-minutes (95% confidence interval (CI): −3.19, −3.17) less of TPA (activity >2 METS) on the same day. Daily inactivity was also negatively associated with TPA on the following day. Each additional minute of MVPA was associated with 1.85 min less of inactivity on the same day (95% CI: −1.89, −1.82). Daily MVPA was also negatively associated with inactivity the following day.

Conclusion:

Our results, based on 6 days of observational data, were not consistent with the ‘activitystat’ hypothesis, and instead indicated that physical activity displaced inactivity, at least in the short term. Longer intervention trials are needed, nevertheless our findings support the use of interventions to increase physical activity over discrete periods of time in middle-school girls.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rowland TW . The biological basis of physical activity. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1998; 30: 392–399.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mutz DC, Roberts DF, van Vuuren DP . Reconsidering the displacement hypothesis. Commun Res 1993; 20: 51–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dietz Jr WH, Gortmaker SL . Do we fatten our children at the television set? Obesity and television viewing in children and adolescents. Pediatrics 1985; 75: 807–812.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Klesges RC, Shelton ML, Klesges LM . Effects of television on metabolic rate: potential implications for childhood obesity. Pediatrics 1993; 91: 281–286.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gortmaker SL, Must A, Sobol AM, Peterson K, Colditz GA, Dietz WH . Television viewing as a cause of increasing obesity among children in the United States, 1986-1990. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1996; 150: 356–362.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Marshall SJ, Biddle SJ, Gorely T, Cameron N, Murdey I . Relationships between media use, body fatness and physical activity in children and youth: a meta-analysis. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28: 1238–1246.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wilkin TJ, Mallam KM, Metcalf BS, Jeffery AN, Voss LD . Variation in physical activity lies with the child, not his environment: evidence for an ‘activitystat’ in young children (EarlyBird 16). Int J Obes (Lond) 2006; 30: 1050–1055.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Metcalf B, Voss L, Jeffery A, Perkins J, Wilkin T . Physical activity cost of the school run: impact on schoolchildren of being driven to school (EarlyBird 22). BMJ 2004; 329: 832–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cooper AR, Page AS, Foster LJ, Qahwaji D . Commuting to school: are children who walk more physically active? Am J Prev Med 2003; 25: 273–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Blaak EE, Westerterp KR, Bar-Or O, Wouters LJ, Saris WH . Total energy expenditure and spontaneous activity in relation to training in obese boys. Am J Clin Nutr 1992; 55: 777–782.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dale D, Corbin CB, Dale KS . Restricting opportunities to be active during school time: do children compensate by increasing physical activity levels after school? Res Q Exerc Sport 2000; 71: 240–248.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Stevens J, Murray DM, Catellier DJ, Hannan PJ, Lytle LA, Elder JP et al. Design of the Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG). Contemp Clin Trials 2005; 26: 223–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Webber LS, Catellier DJ, Lytle LA, Murray DM, Pratt CA, Young DR et al. Promoting physical activity in middle school girls: Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. Am J Prev Med 2008; 34: 173–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Treuth MS, Schmitz K, Catellier DJ, McMurray RG, Murray DM, Almeida MJ et al. Defining accelerometer thresholds for activity intensities in adolescent girls. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2004; 36: 1259–1266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Catellier DJ, Hannan PJ, Murray DM, Addy CL, Conway TL, Yang S et al. Imputation of missing data when measuring physical activity by accelerometry. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2005; 37: S555–S562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Whitt MC, Irwin ML, Swartz AM, Strath SJ et al. Compendium of physical activities: an update of activity codes and MET intensities. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000; 32: S498–S504.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Loftin M, Nichols J, Going S, Sothern M, Schmitz K, Ring K et al. Comparison of the validity of anthropometric and bioelectric impedance equations to assess body composition in adolescent girls. Int J Body Compos Res 2007; 5: 1–8.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Schmitz KH, Treuth M, Hannan P, McMurray R, Ring KB, Catellier D et al. Predicting energy expenditure from accelerometry counts in adolescent girls. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2005; 37: 155–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Stevens J, Murray DM, Baggett CD, Elder JP, Lohman TG, Lytle LA et al. Objectively assessed associations between physical activity and body composition in middle-school girls: the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166: 1298–1305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Schmitz KH, Lytle LA, Phillips GA, Murray DM, Birnbaum AS, Kubik MY . Psychosocial correlates of physical activity and sedentary leisure habits in young adolescents: the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School study. Prev Med 2002; 34: 266–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Gordon-Larsen P, McMurray RG, Popkin BM . Determinants of adolescent physical activity and inactivity patterns. Pediatrics 2000; 105: E83.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Sirard JR, Pate RR . Physical activity assessment in children and adolescents. Sports Med 2001; 31: 439–454.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the faculty and staff of the 36 schools that participated in the trial. We thank all the investigators and support staff at the various study sites for their tireless efforts in conducting this trial. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [grant numbers U01HL-066845, HL-66852, HL-066853, HL-066855, HL-066856, HL-066857, and HL-066858].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    C D Baggett & K R Evenson

  2. Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    J Stevens & K He

  3. Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    D J Catellier

  4. Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    R G McMurray

  5. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, USA

    M S Treuth

Authors
  1. C D Baggett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D J Catellier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K R Evenson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R G McMurray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. K He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. M S Treuth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C D Baggett.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baggett, C., Stevens, J., Catellier, D. et al. Compensation or displacement of physical activity in middle-school girls: the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. Int J Obes 34, 1193–1199 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.31

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.31

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links