Influence Of Gender, Weight And Hispanic Ethnicity On Physical Activity In Toddlers

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between overweight status and physical activity (PA) among gender and ethnic (non-Hispanic vs. minority) sub-groups in very young children. METHODS: physical activity was assessed over seven days using the ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer in 69 toddlers (mean age 1.88 years; 58% male; 38% Hispanic; and 43% overweight, defined by weight percentile (≥85th percentile for age and gender) from Ventura County, California. RESULTS: In the total sample, there were no significant gender differences in total Physical activity (TPA) (counts per minute, cpm; p>0.05); or percentage of time spent in sedentary behavior (p=0.58) or MVPA (p=0.53). However, there was a trend for a significant gender difference in percentage of time spent in light physical activity (p=0.08). There were no significant gender, ethnicity, and overweight interaction for total PA (p= 0.84), sedentary behavior (p= 0.682), time sent in Light PA (p=0.15) and time spent at MVPA (both p=0.64). There was a trend for over weight non-Hispanic boys to spent more time in TPA compare to overweight Hispanic boys (p=0.90). Overweight Hispanic girls spent significantly less time in TPA compared with non-Hispanic Overweight girls (p=0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Data from the present study does not consistently support the prevailing hypothesis that overweight children engage in less PA. Which suggests that differences may occur at a later age than the participants in this study. These results suggest the need for further investigation. This study was funded by the Swenson Summer Research Fellowship.