Afterschool program participation, youth physical fitness, and overweight

Fighting childhood obesity has become a key policy focus. The role of community-based interventions to promote physical activity is an important part of an overall strategy to increase physical activity for youth.

This study examines whether community-based afterschool physical activity programs lead to improved youth fitness and lower obesity rates.

Individually linked, longitudinal administrative data were used from local afterschool programs and two school districts in one California community to follow 1105 students from the 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 school years. Models were estimated in 2009-2010 using linear probability regressions and robust SEs, controlling for individual, family, and school characteristics, including fitness and overweight status prior to program participation.

One third (36%) of the students participated in fitness-focused afterschool programs. Controlling for baseline fitness status, participating in fitness-focused afterschool programs was associated with a 10% increase in the probability of being physically fit after 2 years. This finding held for nearly all subgroups, including students who were initially unfit. Participation in 2 years of the program was associated with a 14.7% increased likelihood of subsequent fitness compared to 8.8% for 1 year of participation. Participation in other types of afterschool programs was not associated with fitness improvements. There were no effects of participation in either type of program on overweight status.

These findings point to the promise of relying on existing community resources in the fight against childhood obesity. Fitness-focused afterschool programs will need to ensure that the highest-risk children--including those who are Latino and low-income--are served.