Abstract
We tested the Youth Physical Activity Promotion (YPAP) framework on Romanian students in order to identify actionable determinants to support participation in physical activity. Our sample consisted of 665 responses to an online survey, with participants aged 18–23 (mean = 19 years); 70% were women. We used the partial least squares algorithm to estimate the relationships between students’ behavior and possible predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results indicate that all the theoretical dimensions of YPAP (predisposing, enabling and reinforcing) have a positive and significant impact on physical activity, with two mediating mechanisms expressed as predisposing factors: able and worth. Unlike previous research, we used second-order latent constructs, unveiling a particular structure for the enabling dimension that only includes sport competence, fitness and skills, but not the environmental factors.
Highlights
Romania is illustrative for investigating Physical Activity (PA): over one-half of its population declares a lack of engagement in PA [9], and half of all deaths are traceable to behavioral risk factors, with 4% attributable to low PA [10]
We found that the following items had loadings lower than 0.7 and could not be kept in the analysis: (1) “On an interval of 7 days, how many times do you engage in physical activity of mild intensity, such as yoga, easy walk, for more than 15 min?”—item of the PA construct; (2) “In my neighborhood there are bicycle/pedestrian lanes that I can access.” and
Our results indicate that all four factors were important in the architecture of the Youth Physical Activity Promotion (YPAP) and that they were positively related with PA
Summary
Despite the growing awareness on the issue and the dedicated programs from the last decade [1,2], recent data show weak or no improvement at all in PA levels, but a worrying increase in sedentary behaviors in adults [3,4]. Both trends are associated with numerous negative health consequences, such as aggravating influences on noncommunicable diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, cancers, diabetes, etc.) [5,6] and mental health problems [7,8]. There are significant concerns that this period may reinforce, in an unprecedented manner, unhealthy behaviors in children and adolescents: unbalanced diets, higher anxiety levels, disrupted sleep schedules and passive screen time [13,14]
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