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Step Counts on Weekdays, Weekends, and During Physical Education of Navajo High School Students

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Understanding the physical activity patterns of youth is important for the implementation and evaluation of programming and interventions designed to change behavior. To date, little is known about the objectively measured physical activity patterns of Native American youth. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the step counts of Navajo youth during weekdays, weekend days, and physical education classes.

Methods

Participants included 63 high school students (mean age = 15.14 ± 1.37 years). Youth wore a pedometer (Walk-4-Life 2505) for seven consecutive days. Means and standard deviations were calculated for weekdays, weekend days, and physical education.

Results

Boys averaged 11,078 ± 4400 steps/weekday compared to 6493 ± 5651 on weekend days. Girls averaged 7567 ± 5614 on weekdays compared to 7589 ± 7712 on weekend days. Both boys (20 %) and girls (26 %) accumulated a large percentage of their weekday step counts from physical education classes.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the importance of additional physical activity opportunities in the community. Youth are falling well short of recommended levels of physical activity with physical education being an important source of physical activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College, Arizona State University, 7271 E. Sonoran Arroyo Mall, Mesa, AZ, 85212, USA

    Rachelle Jones, Pamela H. Kulinna & Hans van der Mars

  2. Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Recreation, College of Health, University of Utah, 250 s 1850 E Rm 205, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Timothy A. Brusseau

Authors
  1. Rachelle Jones
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  2. Timothy A. Brusseau
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  3. Pamela H. Kulinna
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  4. Hans van der Mars
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy A. Brusseau.

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Funding

This study was not supported by external funding.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent (parental permission and child assent) was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jones, R., Brusseau, T.A., Kulinna, P.H. et al. Step Counts on Weekdays, Weekends, and During Physical Education of Navajo High School Students. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 4, 911–915 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0294-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0294-0

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