Associations between socio-economic position and young people’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the United Kingdom: A scoping review
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Journal Title
BMJ Open
ISSN
2044-6055
Publisher
BMJ Journals
Type
Article
This Version
AM
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Pearson, N., Griffiths, P., Van Sluijs, E., Atkin, A., Khunti, K., & Sherar, L. Associations between socio-economic position and young people’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the United Kingdom: A scoping review. BMJ Open https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.83850
Abstract
Objective To examine the evidence on the associations between socioeconomic position and young people’s physical activity and sedentary behaviours in the United Kingdom.
Design Scoping review
Data sources PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases were searched for articles published up to and including January 2021.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Observational studies in children and adolescents (5-18 years) from the UK that and assessed associations between at least one indicator of socioeconomic position and at least one outcome of physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour.
Data extraction and synthesis Data were extracted by one reviewer and 20% were double checked. Indicators of socioeconomic position were tabulated with domains of physical activity and sedentary behaviour.
Results Fifty-seven publications were included in the review; 37 publications from 20 studies (k=23) of children and 21 publications from 15 studies (k=23) of adolescents. Most studies were cross-sectional. 63% of studies of children, and 40% of studies of adolescents assessed Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Eighteen studies measured physical activity in children, thirteen measured sedentary behaviour. Eleven studies of adolescents included a measure of physical activity, ten included a measure of sedentary behaviour. Among children and adolescents, the association between socioeconomic position and measures of either physical activity or sedentary behaviour was highly variable depending on the measure of both socioeconomic position used and the behavioural outcome, with the exception of higher family affluence which was consistently associated with higher reported physical activity among adolescents.
Conclusion
Physical activity and sedentary behaviours of children and adolescents in the UK are complex and influenced by multiple indicators of socioeconomic position that are, in most cases, different across age stages, outcomes examined, and measurement tools. Greater consistency in the use and measures of socioeconomic position as well as outcomes of behaviour are required for robust country-specific meta-analyses.
Sponsorship
KK is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration East Midlands (ARC EM) and the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The work of EvS was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number MC_UU_00006/5] and undertaken under the auspices of the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust.
Funder references
MRC (MC_UU_00006/5)
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)
Embargo Lift Date
2025-04-25
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.83850
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/336433
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