Abstract
Objective
To examine associations between students’ time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and the school built environment while also considering features of the schools’ social environment and student-level characteristics.
Methods
Using surveys and GIS measures, multilevel linear regression analysis was applied to examine the environment- and student-level characteristics associated with time spent in MVPA among grade 9–12 students (n = 22,117) attending 76 secondary schools in Ontario, Canada as part of the SHAPES-Ontario study.
Results
Statistically significant between-school random variation in student MVPA was identified [\( \sigma^{2}_{\mu 0} \) = 9,065.22 (250.64)]; school-level differences accounted for 3.0% of the variability in student MVPA. Students attending a school that offered daily physical education or provided an alternate room for physical activity spent more time in MVPA than students attending a school without these resources. Moreover, as land-use mix diversity and walkability of the school neighbourhood increased, students’ time spent in MVPA decreased.
Conclusion
Developing a better understanding of the environment- and student-level characteristics associated with students’ time spent in MVPA is critical for informing school-based physical activity intervention programmes and policies.
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Acknowledgments
Data used in this analysis were drawn from the SHAPES-Ontario project (S. Leatherdale and S. Manske), funded as part of the Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy through the Ontario Ministries of Health and Long-term Care and of Health Promotion. The project was conducted by the SHAPES team at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Manske is a Senior Scientist within the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo and Dr. Leatherdale is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo (formerly a Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Population Studies). The Canadian Cancer Society provided funding to develop SHAPES, the system used to collect the SHAPES-Ontario data. A grant from the Canadian Heart Health Surveys Follow-up Study ancillary projects (E. Hobin and S. Leatherdale) was used to fund the expertise required to measure the GIS derived features of the built environment for each participating school. Erin Hobin is funded by the CIHR Training Grant in Population Intervention for Chronic Disease Prevention: a Pan-Canadian Program (Grant #: 53893).
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Hobin, E., Leatherdale, S., Manske, S. et al. A multilevel examination of factors of the school environment and time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity among a sample of secondary school students in grades 9–12 in Ontario, Canada. Int J Public Health 57, 699–709 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0336-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0336-2