Abstract
BackgroundSchool recess provides an important opportunity for children to engage in physical activity. Previous studies indicate that children and adults of South Asian origin are less active than other ethnic groups in the United Kingdom, but have not investigated whether activity differs within the shared school environment. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that British Pakistani girls aged 9–11 years are less active during recess than White British girls.MethodsIn Study One, the proportion of recess spent by 137 White British (N = 70) and British Pakistani (N = 67) girls in sedentary behavior, moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) and vigorous activity (VPA) was determined using accelerometry. In Study Two, 86 White British (N = 48) and British Pakistani (N = 38) girls were observed on the playground using the System for Observing Children’s Activity and Relationships during Play (SOCARP). Accelerometry data were collected during observations to allow identification of activities contributing to objectively measured physical activity.ResultsAccelerometry data indicated that British Pakistani girls spent 2.2% (95% CI: 0.2, 4.3) less of their total recess time in MVPA and 1.3% (95% CI: 0.2, 2.4) less in VPA than White British girls. Direct observation showed that British Pakistani girls spent 12.0% (95% CI: 2.9, 21.1) less playground time being very active, and 12.3% (95% CI: 1.7, 23.0) less time playing games. Time spent being very active according to direct observation data correlated significantly with accelerometer-assessed time spent in MVPA and VPA, and time spent playing games correlated significantly with accelerometer-assessed time spent in VPA, suggesting that differences in behavior observed in Study Two may have contributed to the differences in time spent in MVPA and VPA in Study One.ConclusionsBritish Pakistani girls were less active than White British girls during school recess. Recess has been identified as a potentially important target for the delivery of physical activity interventions; such interventions should consider ways in which the activity levels of British Pakistani girls could be increased.
Highlights
School recess provides an important opportunity for children to engage in physical activity
We found that during recess as a whole (Study One), British Pakistani girls spent a smaller proportion of time in moderate-tovigorous physical activity (MVPA) and in vigorous physical activity (VPA) than White British girls, and that when observed in the playground (Study Two) British Pakistani girls spent a smaller proportion of their time being very active and playing playground games
Time being very active according to direct observation data correlated significantly with accelerometer-assessed time spent in MVPA and VPA, and time spent playing games correlated significantly with accelerometer-assessed time spent in VPA, suggesting that differences in behavior may have contributed to the differences in time spent in MVPA and VPA (Study One)
Summary
School recess provides an important opportunity for children to engage in physical activity. Low levels of physical activity have been reported in adults and children of South Asian origin living in the UK, Canada and the US [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] and are thought to contribute to the high risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in this group [9,10,11]. One study of self-reported behavior in the playground in 11–15 year olds found no difference in activity between South Asian and White European children [16]. The use of objective methods is important because of concerns about the ability of children to recall often unstructured and varied playground activities [17], and because any ethnic differences in views on the acceptability of active behaviors may lead to different biases in reporting in the two groups
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