Background/Purpose: Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) has been recognized as an innovative approach to promote children's physical activity (PA) promotion (Gao, 2012). Nevertheless, few studies have investigated accelerometer-determined PA levels in DDR among overweight and obese children as compared to normal weight children in population-based studies. The purpose of this study was to examine children's PA Levels in DDR across different BMI groups.
Methods: Participants were 160 third through sixth grade urban children (79 girls; 70% White). They participated in a weekly 30-minute DDR program for 18 weeks beyond a 30-minute physical education. Children's BMI was calculated by their height and weight, and their PA levels in DDR were assessed by ActiGraph accelerometers for three sessions. The outcome variables were percentages of time in sedentary, light PA, and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA).
Analysis/Results: 32.5% of children fell into the overweight (n=26) and obese (n=26) groups. One-way (overweight/obese vs. normal weight) MANCOVA with skill level as covariate yielded a significant main effect (Wilks' lambda =.93, F(3, 154)=4.02, p<.01, η2=.07). Follow-up tests indicate normal weight children (32.36%) accumulated significantly higher percentage time in MVPA than overweight and obese children (26.13%) did, F=8.94, p<.01. However, overweight and obese children had higher percentages of time in sedentary (F=3.27, p=.07) and light PA (F=3.77, p=.054) than normal weight children did.
Conclusions: Overweight and obese children were less physically active than normal weight children when playing DDR. Consequently effective strategies should be adapted to stimulate overweight and obese children to move in DDR exercise.