Patterns of Physical Activity and Overweight Among 7–13-Year-Old Russian Children

Abstract

This is a repeated cross-sectional study of overweight and physical activity (PA) and inactivity patterns of successive samples of 7–13-year-old Russian children who were surveyed six times between 1995 and 2002 as part of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. This analysis focused on moderate/vigorous (MOD/VIG) PA (e.g., active commuting to school, during school MOD/VIG PA as part of physical education classes, and/or before/after school MOD/VIG PA) and inactivity patterns (e.g., television viewing habits) obtained through parent proxy-reports of 3,507 boys (M age = 10.1 years, SD = 2.0; body mass index = 17.5 kg/m², SD = 3.0) and 3,273 girls (M age = 10.1 years, SD = 2.0; body mass index = 17.2 kg/m², SD = 3.0). Time spent in MOD/VIG PA appears to be on the rise, while the proportion of those actively commuting to school is decreasing, especially among girls.