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Trends in and relations between children's health-related behaviors pre-, mid- and post-Covid.
- Source :
-
European Journal of Public Health . Apr2023, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p196-201. 6p. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Background Covid-19 has had a major negative impact on children's engagement in health-related behaviors. This study examines trends in children's screen time, outdoor play and sports club membership in pre- (2016–19), mid- (2020–21) and post- (2021–22) Covid years. Also, predicting factors (gender, age and active commuting) of these health-related behaviors are examined. Methods Data were collected via yearly self-report questionnaires among pupils in Grades 3–6 (mean age 10.14 ± 1.25 years; total n over the five cohorts = 6351, 50.8% girls). Multilevel path models were constructed in Mplus to examine whether children's screen time, outdoor play and sports club membership differed between pre-, mid- and post-Covid years; and which factors predicted engagement in these health-related behaviors (using data of all cohorts). Results During and after Covid-19, children's screen time was higher, while they engaged less in outdoor play and were less often member of a sports club than before. Although these negative trends peaked during Covid-19, they slowly seem to be returning to pre-Covid levels in recent year. Younger children, girls and active commuters had less minutes screen time per day and played outdoors more days per week; boys and active commuters were more often sports club member. Conclusions Although in the first year post-Covid children seem to be engaging more in health-related behaviors than during Covid-19, we still found lower levels of engagement than in the years before Covid-19, underlining the importance of early intervention to ensure an appropriate amount of engagement in health-related behaviors for all children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 11011262
- Volume :
- 33
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- European Journal of Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 162940779
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad007