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Patterns of school environment that matter for physical activity engagement among Brazilian adolescents

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Abstract

Purpose

To identify patterns of school environment and association with physical activity (PA) in different domains

Methods

Cross-sectional data from the National School Health Survey (2015) was used, and students enrolled in the ninth grade of elementary education were evaluated. Electronic questionnaires were answered by students and the school principal. The study outcomes were PA indicators (yes/no): commuting; Physical Education; leisure-time; reaching PA guidelines. The exposure was related to the school environment (physical, social and political factors). Sociodemographic characteristics were described using proportions and mean with standard deviations. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to identify environmental school-related patterns. Multilevel binary logistic regression models were applied.

Results

81,154 students with a mean age of 14.3 ± 1.3 years old were investigated. Most of the students reported participating in Physical Education (80.8%), but only 8.6% of them met PA guidelines. The PCA revealed five patterns that explained 53% of the variance among the environmental school characteristics. Higher scores of both Sports Courts and Sports & Materials patterns were associated with a higher odds of participation in Physical Education (OR: 1.27 and 1.13, respectively). Higher scores for the Open Schools pattern increased the odds of PA in commuting to school (OR: 1.12), leisure-time PA (OR: 1.03), and met PA guidelines (OR:1.04); Higher scores for Track & Pool pattern increased the practice of Physical Education (OR: 1.05).

Conclusion

The findings reinforce the role of the school environment within PA and reveal a complex association, as different patterns of the school environment may favor specific PA domains more than others. The promotion of PA must consider the multiple layers of the school environment to enhance PA practice across all domains.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Geographic and Statistics (IBGE) of Brazil, who conducted the survey.

Funding

No funding was received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament of Physical Education, Federal University of Santa Catarina, R. Eng. Agronômico Andrei Cristian Ferreira, s/n – Trindade, Florianópolis – Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, 88040-900, Brazil

    Jaqueline Aragoni da Silva, Giovani Firpo Del Duca, Marcus Vinicius Veber Lopes, Margarethe Thaisi Garro Knebel, Anne Ribeiro Streb, Thiago Sousa Matias & Kelly Samara da Silva

Authors
  1. Jaqueline Aragoni da Silva
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  2. Giovani Firpo Del Duca
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  3. Marcus Vinicius Veber Lopes
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  4. Margarethe Thaisi Garro Knebel
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  5. Anne Ribeiro Streb
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  6. Thiago Sousa Matias
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  7. Kelly Samara da Silva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaqueline Aragoni da Silva.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the National Committee of Ethics in Research (CONEP no. 1,006,467, dated March 30, 2015), being in accordance with health research involving human participants and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration as well as its amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained by participants, in which they marked be aware of their participation in the research. Participants could withdraw from the research at any moment.

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da Silva, J.A., Del Duca, G.F., Lopes, M.V.V. et al. Patterns of school environment that matter for physical activity engagement among Brazilian adolescents. Sport Sci Health 19, 939–947 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-00987-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-00987-0

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