Developmental trajectories of physical activity and television viewing during adolescence among girls: National Growth and Health Cohort Study.

Pubmed ID: 26174016

Pubmed Central ID: PMC4502939

Journal: BMC public health

Publication Date: July 15, 2015

MeSH Terms: Humans, Female, Risk Factors, Cohort Studies, Adolescent, Longitudinal Studies, Young Adult, Child, Health Surveys, Television, Exercise, Recreation, Sedentary Behavior, White People, Black or African American

Grants: UL1 TR001422

Authors: Carnethon MR, Lee J, Kwon S

Cite As: Kwon S, Lee J, Carnethon MR. Developmental trajectories of physical activity and television viewing during adolescence among girls: National Growth and Health Cohort Study. BMC Public Health 2015 Jul 15;15:667.

Studies:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Analytic methodology for investigating physical activity patterns over time has been limited. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the group-based trajectory analysis process for identifying developmental physical activity (PA) and television (TV) viewing trajectories and the risk factor of PA trajectories, and for examining a relationship between PA and TV viewing trajectories among adolescent girls. METHODS: Secondary analysis was conducted using the National Growth and Health Study (NGHS) dataset. The NGHS administered the Habitual Activity Questionnaire and TV viewing questionnaire to White and Black girls at age 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19 years. Group-based trajectory analyses were conducted to identify distinct PA trajectories. Race was chosen to present an example of the risk factor analysis and was added as a predictor in the trajectory model. Dual-trajectory analysis was conducted to estimate probabilities of TV viewing trajectory groups conditional on the PA trajectory groups. RESULTS: A total of 2,155 girls (52% Black) were included in the data analysis. We identified four PA trajectories: substantially decreasing from high PA (PA group 1, 9.4%), maintaining moderate PA (PA group 2, 31.6%), maintaining high PA (PA group 3, 5.8%), and decreasing from moderate PA (PA group 4, 53.2%). A significantly lower proportion of Black girls had high PA levels at baseline and maintained their baseline PA than White girls. Most girls who were classified as maintaining high PA (88%) were also classified as decreasing TV viewing. CONCLUSIONS: A group-based trajectory approach provides new insights about the patterns of maintaining moderate or high levels of PA that exist among adolescent girls. However, a lower proportion of Black girls followed the maintenance patterns than White girls. The behavioral development of PA and TV viewing may be intertwined among adolescent girls.