Longitudinal physical activity and sedentary behavior trendsAdolescence to adulthood

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> There is little national research on longitudinal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior in ethnically diverse teens as they transition to adulthood. <h3>Methods</h3> Longitudinal questionnaire data from U.S. adolescents enrolled in Wave I (1994–1995) and Wave III (2001) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (<i>n</i> =13,030) were analyzed in January 2004. Incidence, reversal, and maintenance of achieving five or more weekly bouts of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and ≤14 hours of weekly TV and video viewing, computer/video game use (screen time) were assessed. Multinomial logistic regression models examined the likelihood of achieving five or more weekly sessions of MVPA week and ≤14 hours screen time per week as an adolescent and/or young adult, controlling for household income, parental education, age of adolescent, and seasonality. <h3>Results</h3> Of those achieving five or more weekly sessions of MVPA and ≤14 hours of weekly screen time as adolescents, few continued to achieve these favorable amounts of activity (4.4%) and screen time (37.0%) as adults. More failed to maintain these favorable amounts of activity (31.1%) and screen time (17.3%) into adulthood. Black versus white females were more likely to maintain favorable amounts of activity from adolescence to adulthood (odds ratio [OR]=3.09; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.49–6.42), while black males (OR=1.50; CI=1.05–2.14) and females (OR=2.00; CI=1.40–2.87) were more likely than whites to maintain less (versus more) favorable screen time hours. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The vast majority of adolescents do not achieve five or more bouts of moderate physical activity per week, and continue to fail to achieve this amount of activity into adulthood.