Physical activity levels among children have significantly decreased in recent years. The lack of access to programs and activities, the inability to walk to school, and high poverty rates make children living in rural eastern Kentucky especially susceptible to unacceptably low physical activity levels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in-school and after-school physical activity levels of rural children, and to determine if sex differences exist.
Method
277 4th and 5th grade students (141 males, 136 females) from 7 eastern Kentucky schools were categorized into one of four body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) percentile categories (underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese) based on age and sex. Students wore pedometers during school hours for 5 consecutive days. Steps were recorded at the end of each day. After school activity was estimated using the Previous Day Physical Activity Recall questionnaire. Activities listed on the questionnaire were converted to metabolic equivalents (METS).
Analysis/Results
As a total group, boys were significantly more physically active than girls, both during (4803.2 ± 1590.6 vs. 4047.6 ± 1451.7 steps) and after school (2.6 ± 0.8 vs. 2.4 ± 0.7 METS). When BMI percentile categories were examined separately, healthy and obese boys took significantly more steps than healthy and obese girls, though boys in all categories obtained greater steps than girls. Obese boys accumulated significantly greater METS than obese girls. Since all students performed similar activities during school, it is speculated that the difference between the step counts of boys and girls occurred during recess, the only time of the day when students were free to choose the type and amount of activities in which they would participate. Neither boys nor girls appear to engage in large amounts of physical activity outside of school. The average METS for both boys and girls is equivalent to light activities such as walking at a slow pace.
Conclusions
While it appears that the students do not engage in enough physical activity to meet national recommendations (13,000 and 11,000 step per day for boys and girls, respectively), the in-school step counts would be lower had the students not had physical education each day. This study supports the need for daily physical education to increase physical activity, particularly for rural children. In addition, after-school programs that are of little cost and that emphasize recreation rather than competition might provide opportunities for children to be more physically active outside of school.