Sport and Physical Activity involvement of children during their spare time

Abstract

Today's society is becoming increasingly sedentary for several reasons, including the extensive use of digital devices and the information technologies. People spend more time with the “screens” (video games, television, internet, etc.) and tend to do less sport and physical activities. The aim of this research is to look at the involvement in physical and sports activities of children (3rd Prymary Education Cycle, ages 10-12) and teenagers (Compulsory Secondary Education, ages 12-17), during their spare time, in two schools located in the region of Murcia, Spain. A non-probability and for convenience sampling was performed, being the sample of 183 subjects, aged between 10 and 17 years old. Data was collected through a questionnaire specifically designed and validated for this study. The results indicate, among others, that nearly 65.0% of adolescents report some practice of physical and sports activities outside school hours and that boys are physically more active than girls. In any case, adolescents’ involvement in physical and sports activity during their leisure time is significantly below the recommendations to achieve health goals stated by different international organizations.