Correlates of Pedometer-Assessed Physical Activity in Cypriot Elementary School Children.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between pedometer-assessed physical activity and a number of individual, social, and environmental correlates among Cypriot elementary school children. METHODS: School children in grades 5 and 6 (N = 104) and their parents (N = 70) wore pedometers for five consecutive weekdays and completed questionnaires assessing potential correlates of steps/d. RESULTS: A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that gender, weekly frequency of sports club attendance, and hours playing outside accounted for 32% of the variance in steps/d. In addition, children with a body-mass index (BMI) above the 85th percentile (based on age and gender) scored significantly lower steps/d than children with a BMI below the 85th percentile. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that correlates of steps/d in children are similar to the findings of other studies using different measures of physical activity behavior.