Sociodemographic and socioeconomic variations in leisure time physical activity in a sample of Hungarian youth

Summary

Objectives:

The main goal of the present study is to detect the relationship between youth’s leisure time physical activity and a set of sociodemographic (age, gender, family stucture) and socioeconomic variables (SES and parental schooling).

Methods:

Data were collected among Hungarian youth (middle and high school students, N = 1662) aged between 10–20 years using a self-administered questionnaire.

Results:

Our findings did not indicate gender differences during the years of middle school, whereas gender differences became significant during the years of high school. In multivariate analyses, parental schooling played a decisive role in youth’s physical activity, wheres SES self-assessment did not remain significant.

Conclusion:

These findings provide some useful information on characteristics of the target groups for health education programs.