Abstract
Purpose. Little is known about school environmental factors that promote or inhibit activity, especially from studies using objective measures in large representative samples. We therefore aimed to study associations between activity intensities and physical and social school environmental factors. Methods. A population-based sample of 1 908 British children (SPEEDY study), mean age 10.3 years (Standard deviation [SD]: 0.3), recruited from 92 schools across Norfolk, UK, with valid activity data (assessed with Actigraph accelerometers). Outcome measures were school-based (8 am–4 pm on weekdays) time (in minutes) spent in sedentary (<100 counts/min), moderate (2 000–3 999 counts/min) and vigorous (≥4 000 counts/min) activity. A total of 40 school physical and social environmental factors were assessed. Multivariable multilevel linear regression analyses adjusted for children's sex and body mass index were conducted; interactions with sex were investigated. Results. Availability of a ‘Park and Stride’ scheme was negatively associated with sedentary minutes (−7.74; 95% CI: −14.8; −0.70). Minutes of moderate activity were associated with the availability of a lollypop person (1.33, 95% CI: 0.35; 2.62) and objectively-assessed walking provision (1.70, 95% CI: 0.85; 2.56). The number of sports facilities of at least medium quality (0.47, 95% CI: 0.16; 0.79), not having a policy on physical activity (−2.28, 95% CI: −3.62; −0.95), and, in boys only, provision of pedestrian training (1.89; 95% CI: 0.77; 3.01) were associated with minutes of vigorous activity. Conclusions. Only a small number of school-level factors were associated with children's objectively-measured physical activity intensity, giving few pointers for potential future intervention efforts. Further research should focus on using objective measures to elucidate what factors may explain the school-level variance in activity levels.
Acknowledgements
We thank the schools, the children and parents for their participation in the SPEEDY study, everyone who helped with the data collection and Norfolk Children's Services for their invaluable input and support. The SPEEDY study is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative, consisting of the following funding partners: British Heart Foundation; Cancer Research UK; Department of Health; Diabetes UK; Economic and Social Research Council; Medical Research Council; Research and Development Office for the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services; Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Executive Health Department; Welsh Assembly Government and World Cancer Research Fund.
The work of EvS, AJ and SG was supported by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.