Compliance with the activity guidelines for children and adolescents in Germany

Abstract

Introduction: Being physically active is an important condition for a healthy development of children and adolescents. Compared to thosewho are inactive, physically active young people have higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, lower levels of body fat, stronger bonesand muscles, as well as lower anxiety and depression rates (Strong et al., 2005). For this reason, some national governments publishedspecific activity guidelines for children and adolescents. In the most recent activity guidelines from the Sport Unit of the European Commission (2008), it is recommended that children and adolescents should have 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. This study represents a first survey which provides nationwide representative data for physical activity and sports in Germany.Methods: The target population of the study are all children and adolescents living and registered in the Federal Republic Germany agedbetween 4 and 17 years. The participants of the study were recruited in 167 sample points across Germany. The sample consists of 4529children and adolescents who were tested in regard to physical activity, motor fitness, and health status. The measurement of the compliancewith the activity guidelines was conducted on the basis of the screening questionnaire by Prochaska, Sallis and Long (2001).Results and Discussion: Looking at the whole sample, only 15.3% of children and adolescents aged between 4 and 17 years meet the 60min guideline. The proportion of girls (13.1%) meeting this guideline is significantly (chi2 = 14.0; df = 1; p < .001) lower than the proportionof boys (17.4%). Fur-thermore, the results of this study lead to the conclusion that the proportion of children and adolescents who meet thephysical activity guidelines decreases with increasing age. Every third child of kindergarten age can achieve this activity guideline, howeverin primary school the compliance with the activity guidelines is reduced to only every fifth child. With the transition to the secondaryschool, there are less than 10% of adolescents meeting the 60-min guideline. Finally, in the age group between 14 and 17 years every20th girl and every 12th boy comply with the activity guideline. These results suggest that only a small percentage of German childrenand adolescents are sufficiently physically active und emphasise the importance of endeavours to promote physical activity and sportsamong children and adolescents.