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The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on February 19, 2008
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckn004
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Trends in physical activity and participation in sports clubs among Icelandic adolescents

Sigríður Þ. Eiðsdóttir1, Álfgeir L. Kristjánsson2, Inga D. Sigfúsdóttir2 and John P. Allegrante1,2,3

1 Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY, USA
2 Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis, School of Health and Education, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland
3 Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, NY, USA

Correspondence: John P. Allegrante, Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, NY 10027, USA, tel: +1 212 678 3960, fax: +1 212 678 3952, e-mail: jap1{at}columbia.edu

Received October 10, 2007 , accepted January 3, 2008

Background: Physical activity among adolescents and its implications for health status is of increasing concern. We examined trends in physical activity and participation in sports clubs among Icelandic adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data were used to determine levels of vigorous physical activity and participation in sports clubs (defined as engaging in moderately intensive activity four times or more a week) for cohorts of Icelandic adolescents in 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2006. Results: There was a 6% increase in the rate of vigorous physical activity and a 15% increase in active sports club participation among 14- and 15-year old Icelandic adolescents from 1992 to 2006. The trends were consistent across genders; however, only 53% of boys actually achieved the recommended criterion for vigorous physical activity, with the percentage of girls averaging 16% lower than that for boys. Additionally, there was an overall increase in the proportion of inactive adolescents, with girls consistently reporting higher levels of inactivity than boys even though the net increase in inactivity was higher for boys. Conclusion: Although our results show an overall increase in vigorous physical activity and participation in sports clubs over the past decade among both genders, our data also indicate that over half of all Icelandic adolescents are not achieving the recommended level of participation in physical activity. Furthermore, less than one third of the population studied is achieving the recommended level of activity through organized clubs. Initiatives to increase physical activity among the least active of adolescents should receive high priority in public health.

Keywords: adolescence, health promotion, obesity, overweight, physical activity, sports


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