This study examined where and with whom children engage in recreational exercise and sports. The purpose of the study was to examine demographic, social and other patterns associated with physical activity among adolescents.
Researchers analyzed four years of data from a large, nationally representative time use survey, the American Time Use Survey from 2003 - 2006. As part of this survey, youth between the ages of 15 and 18 participated in a telephone interview where they described their activities for a 24-hour period, as well as where and with whom each activity occurred. Examples of physical locations where the activities occurred were outdoors, at home, at school, and at work. The youth were asked to report whether they were alone, with family, with friends or with others. Regression analyses were used to compare the activities by age, gender, family income, season, weekend or weekday, and time of day, with controls for race and ethnicity.
In analyzing data for over 850 youth, the researchers found that the majority of the adolescents' recreational physical activity occurred with friends/acquaintances/other (50%), alone (19%), or with family members (18%). In terms of location, researchers found that the adolescents' recreational physical activity occurred at: other/unspecified locations (29%), school (24%), outdoors (22%), home (16%), and at someone else's house (8%). With regard to gender, Dunton and colleagues discovered that girls were more likely to exercise with family than boys (22% versus 16%), while boys were more likely to exercise with friends/acquaintances/other (52% versus 47%) and more likely to exercise outdoors than were girls (24% versus 18%). With regard to age, researchers found that 18-year-olds were more likely to engage in recreational physical activity alone and less likely to engage in physical activity at school.
The study provides valuable insight into where and with whom adolescents participate in recreational sports and exercise. Based on their study, Dunton and colleagues recommend that program and planning efforts focus on encouraging peer-based and outdoor activities to support adolescents' recreational physical activity.
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