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Physical activity and affect in elementary school children's daily lives
Jan Kühnhausen1, Anja Leonhardt, Judith Dirk
1Center for Research on Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA) Frankfurt, Germany ; Center for Research on Education and Human Development, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) Frankfurt, Germany.
Frontiers in Psychology
|July 26, 2013
Summary
Physical activity (PA) in children
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Exercise Science
- Digital Health
Background:
- Numerous studies indicate a positive link between physical activity (PA) and affect.
- This relationship remains understudied in the daily lives of children.
- The FLUX study addresses this gap by examining PA and affect in children's natural environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of objectively measuring children's PA using accelerometers over several weeks.
- To describe the daily PA levels of 51 children in 3rd and 4th grade.
- To investigate the influence of daily PA on children's affect.
Main Methods:
- Utilized accelerometers for objective PA measurement over multiple weeks.
- Employed smartphone-based self-report items for affect measurement, validated in pre-studies.
- Applied mixed-effects models to analyze the relationship between daily PA and affect.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated the feasibility of objectively measuring children's PA over extended periods.
- Reported descriptive PA data for 51 children (3rd and 4th grade).
- Found no significant effect of daily PA on the four measured dimensions of affect in children.
Conclusions:
- Objective PA measurement and smartphone-based affect assessment are feasible in children.
- Daily PA did not significantly influence children's affect in this study.
- Future research should explore shorter time intervals to detect potential PA-affect relationships.
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