%0 Journal Article
%T Popularity and Friendships and Their Relationship to Physical Activity Before and After Transition to a Higher School Grade
%J International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | An Open Access Journal from MDPI
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152782
%X Background This study investigated the relationships between children¡¯s friendship ties and their physical activity (PA) both before and after their transition to a new school year. Methods In 2011¨C2012, children in grades 5¨C8 attending a Canadian urban middle-school completed web-based health and friendship surveys two times before (¡°pre-transition¡±) and three times after (¡°post-transition¡±) they moved up in school grade. Cross-sectional associations between an average daily frequency of ¡Ý60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) and characteristics of children¡¯s friendships were estimated for pre-transition ( n = 191) and post-transition ( n = 255) data. Sociodemographic-adjusted linear regression (¦Â) estimated associations between a child¡¯s MVPA and friendship characteristics. Results We found positive associations between a child¡¯s MVPA and the average MVPA of their friends at post-transition only (¦Â = 0.61, 95% CI 0.10 to 1.13) and the number of sent friendships at pre-transition (¦Â = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.05) and post-transition (¦Â = 0.02, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.04). A statistically significant interaction between popularity and friends¡¯ average PA at pre-transition was also found. Conclusions The PA of friends and the number of school friends that a child identified are positively associated with MVPA. The estimated associations between MVPA and aspects of children¡¯s friendships are similar for boys and girls. View Full-Tex
%U https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2782