Seasonal and daily variation in physical activity among three-year-old Finnish preschool children
Soini, A., Tammelin, T., Sääkslahti, A., Watt, A., Villberg, J., Kettunen, T., . . . , & Poskiparta, M. (2014). Seasonal and daily variation in physical activity among three-year-old Finnish preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 184 (4), 589-601. doi:10.1080/03004430.2013.804070
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Early Child Development and CareAuthors
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2014The purposes of this study were to assess seasonal, daily, and gender variations in
children’s physical activity (PA). ActiGraph GT3X accelerometers were used to
record the three-year-old children’s PA levels for five consecutive days in
autumn and winter. Complete data for both seasons were obtained for 47
children. Despite a significant difference in seasonal temperatures (p < .001),
differences were only found for weekdays light PA (p = .021). No difference in
PA was observed between weekdays and weekend days. Only 20% of the
sample had ≥120 minutes light-to-vigorous PA (LMVPA), and 46% of children
had ≥60 minutes moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Boys spent more minutes
in LMVPA (p = .001) and MVPA (p = .004) than girls. The current findings
indicated that season and day of the week only minimally influence children’s
PA levels, whereas gender continues to be a significant factor.
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