The Patterns of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Chinese Children and Adolescents

This study conducts an epidemiological investigation to understand the distribution of physical activity and sedentary behavior among Chinese children and adolescents from the perspective of physical activity epidemiology. On the base, study further examines the relations among physical activity, sedentary behavior, social support from parents, exercise benefits at the individual and family level. questionnaires and scales PAQ, ASAQ, ACTS-MG, EBBS are used. Total 18424 students (51.9% boys, 49.1% girls) aged 8-18 years old are collected from six provinces (Shanghai, Chongqing, Shandong, Fujian, Anhui, Inner Mongolia) across China. The study demonstrate that 1) level of physical activity for girls is decreasing with age but male is not;2) Sedentary behavior is increasing among children and adolescents in China, but gender difference is not found in the database. Especially, youths who is physically active every day still has much sitting time;3) girls obtain stronger social support from parents than boys in all age group and scores are decreasing with age for boys and girls. girls have more positive cognition on exercise benefits than boys in all age group. However, exercise benefits become more negative with age for both of boys and girls. PA level are increasing by increasing scores of social support, but not for exercise benefits cognition.