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The influence of friends and psychosocial factors on physical activity and screen time behavior in adolescents: a mixed-methods analysis

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Abstract

(1) Determine the association between adolescent moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time with their nominated friends’ behaviors and (2) explore potential mechanisms of friends’ social influences on MVPA and screen time. Participants consisted of 152 adolescents (mean age: 14.5 years, 53 % female, 50 % high school, 80 % Caucasian). MVPA was measured with an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer. Demographic and psychosocial variables were assessed via questionnaires. Participants nominated up to 5 friends who completed MVPA and screen time questionnaires. A subset of adolescents (n = 108) participated in focus groups that examined potential mechanism of friends’ influence on MVPA and screen time. Multiple regression analysis examined the association of demographic, psychological, and nominated friend variables with participants’ MVPA and screen time. NVivo 10.0 was used to analyze qualitative data. Greater levels of friends’ MVPA was associated with greater levels of MVPA in both males (p < .0001) and females (p < .0001). Greater levels of friends’ screen time was associated with greater levels of screen time in males (p = .04) while psychosocial variables, such as increased screen time enjoyment, were associated with increased screen time in females (p = .01). School level was not associated with either MVPA or screen time. Focus group data indicated that friends positively influenced participants’ MVPA through engaging in activity with participants, verbal encouragement, and modeling of MVPA. All participants preferred to be active with friends rather than alone, however, females preferred activity with a close friend while males preferred to be active with a group. Enjoyment of MVPA was the most cited reason for engaging in MVPA with friends. The majority of participants reported friends not having an influence on screen time. Adolescents with active friends are more likely to be physically active and spend less time engaging in screen-based behaviors. Interventions to increase MVPA in youth could be designed to include the recruitment of friends to increase enjoyment of MVPA.

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Abbreviations

MVPA:

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

PA:

Physical activity

SB:

Sedentary behavior

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. This work was also supported through a NRSA training grant awarded to JM Garcia (T32 HL 098048).

Authors’ contributions

JMG wrote the manuscript, and collected the data. JRS assisted in editing the manuscript and quantitative analysis. NLD assisted in writing and editing the qualitative section of the manuscript. AW oversaw data collection, and assisted in the writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Jeanette M. Garcia

  2. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    John R. Sirard

  3. Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Nancy L. Deutsch

  4. Department of Kinesiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Arthur Weltman

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  1. Jeanette M. Garcia
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  2. John R. Sirard
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Correspondence to Jeanette M. Garcia.

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Conflict of interest

Jeanette M. Garcia, John R. Sirard, Nancy L. Deutsch and Arthur Weltman declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures performed in the 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. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained by all participants included in the study.

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Garcia, J.M., Sirard, J.R., Deutsch, N.L. et al. The influence of friends and psychosocial factors on physical activity and screen time behavior in adolescents: a mixed-methods analysis. J Behav Med 39, 610–623 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9738-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9738-6

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