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From secondary school to university: associations between sport participation and total and domain-specific sedentary behaviours in Spanish students

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Abstract

Effective ways to reduce sedentary behaviour in adolescents are needed to mitigate the risk of chronic disease and poor mental health. Organised sport participation is the most practiced physical activity during adolescence. However, the influence sport participation has on sedentary behaviours remains unclear. This study investigated the associations between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity during the transition from secondary school to university. A 3-year longitudinal survey followed Spanish secondary school students (n = 113) to their first year of university. Generalized linear models, adjusted by gender and year, assessed the relationships between sport participation, total and domain-specific sedentary behaviour and physical activity. Compared with non-sport participants, teenagers who played individual sports from baseline during secondary school spent significantly less total time sitting (− 110.5 min/day at weekends), watching television (− 18.7 min/day at weekends) or using the computer for leisure (− 37.4 min/day weekdays). Those who played team sports from baseline at secondary school spent less time sitting (− 126.4 min/day at weekends) or socialising (− 37 min/day at weekends)

Conclusion: From secondary school to university, sport participation–based interventions might be an effective strategy to reduce sitting time spent on some domain-specific behaviours. Promoting sports could reduce the rise of sedentary behaviour during adolescence, a stage where sedentary behaviour evolves.

What is Known:

• Sitting too much and for too long is an important risk factor during adolescence.

• Replacing adolescent’s sedentary time with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity has been associated with a better quality of life.

What is New:

• Playing sport is associated with spending less time in total SB on the transition from high school to college.

• Not all SB domains are linked to sport participation with associations differing from whether participants played individual or team sports.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence Interval

GLM:

Generalized linear models

GEE:

Generalized estimating equations

H:

Hours

LPA:

Light intensity physical activity

Min/d:

Minutes per day

Min/wk:

Minutes per week

MPA:

Moderate intensity physical activity

MVPA:

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

P:

p value

PA:

Physical activity

Rs:

Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient

SB:

Sedentary behaviour

TV:

Television

VPA:

Vigorous intensity physical activity

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Funding

Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) under grant number 2012 FI_B 00506.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sport and Physical Activity Research Group, Centre for Health and Social Research, Department of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Education, Translation and Human Sciences, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, 08500, Vic, Barcelona, Spain

    I. Arumi Prat & A. Puig-Ribera

  2. Sport and Physical Activity Research Group, Centre for Health and Social Research, Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, 08500, Vic, Barcelona, Spain

    E. Cirera Viñolas

  3. Department of Economics and Business, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, 08500, Vic, Barcelona, Spain

    J. C. Martori Cañas

  4. Cardiff School of Sport, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cyncoed Campus, Cardiff, CF23 6BN, UK

    D. A. Wasley

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  1. I. Arumi Prat
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Contributions

I.A. and A.P. conceived of the presented idea and developed the theory. E.C. and J.M. verified the analytical methods and analysed the data. E.C. designed the model and the computational framework and analysed the data. D.W. supervised the findings and English accuracy of this article. I.A., A.P. and E.C. discussed the results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to I. Arumi Prat or E. Cirera Viñolas.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The Ethics Committee of the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia approved the study (2011).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Communicated by Gregorio Paolo Milani

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Prat, I.A., Viñolas, E.C., Cañas, J.C.M. et al. From secondary school to university: associations between sport participation and total and domain-specific sedentary behaviours in Spanish students. Eur J Pediatr 179, 1635–1645 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03655-y

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