Patterns of Adolescent Physical Activity, Screen-Based Media Use, and Positive and Negative Health Indicators in the U.S. and Canada

Iannotti, Ronald J.; Kogan, Michael D.; Janssen, Ian; Boyce, William F.

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.10.142

« Previous Next »Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 44, Issue 5 , Pages 493-499, May 2009

Patterns of Adolescent Physical Activity, Screen-Based Media Use, and Positive and Negative Health Indicators in the U.S. and Canada

Ronald J. Iannotti, Ph.D.
- Prevention Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Baltimore, Maryland
- Address correspondence to: Ronald J. Iannotti, Ph.D., 6100 Executive Blvd., 7B05, Bethesda, MD 20892-7510.
Michael D. Kogan, Ph.D.
- Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rockville, Maryland
Ian Janssen, Ph.D.
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and School of Physical and Health Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
William F. Boyce, Ph.D.
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Social Program Evaluation Group, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Received 12 June 2008; accepted 20 October 2008. published online 09 January 2009.

Abstract

Purpose

To examine: (1) how adolescent physical activity (PA) and screen-based media use (SBM) relate to physical and social health indicators, and (2) crossnational differences in these relationships.

Methods

Essentially identical questions and methodologies were used in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children cross-sectional surveys of nationally representative samples of American (N = 14,818) and Canadian (N = 7266) students in grades 6 to 10. Items included questions about frequency of PA, SBM, positive health indicators (health status, self-image, quality of life, and quality of family and peer relationships), and negative health indicators (health complaints, physical aggression, smoking, drinking, and marijuana use).

Results

In regression analyses controlling for age and gender, positive health indicators were uniformly positively related to PA while two negative health indicators were negatively related to PA. However, PA was positively related to physical aggression. The pattern for SBM was generally the opposite; SBM was negatively related to most positive health indices and positively related to several of the negative health indicators. The notable exception was that SBM was positively related to the quality of peer relationships. Although there were crossnational differences in the strength of some relationships, these patterns were essentially replicated in both countries.

Conclusions

Surveys of nationally representative samples of youth in two countries provide evidence of positive physical and social concomitants of PA and negative concomitants of SBM. These findings suggest potential positive consequences of increasing PA and decreasing SBM in adolescents and provide further justification for such efforts.

Keywords: Physical activity, Sedentary behavior, Screen-based media use, Quality of life, Physical health status, Quality of family relationships, Quality of peer relationships, Health complaints, Substance use