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. 2010 Jul;7(7):2853-65.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph7072853. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

Is participation in after-school physical activity associated with increased total physical activity? A study of high school pupils in the Czech Republic

Jana Pelclová  1 , Walid El Ansari, Jana Vasícková
Affiliations

Is participation in after-school physical activity associated with increased total physical activity? A study of high school pupils in the Czech Republic

Jana Pelclová et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

This study assessed the physical activity (PA) levels and its variability across days, months and seasons of two groups of high school pupils: those who did and those who did not participate in regular organized after-school physical activity (ASPA). Thirteen pupils wore pedometers continuously for one school-year, logged their step counts into record sheets and were then interviewed for information as regards their participation in any ASPA. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that regardless of the day, month and season, ASPA pupils achieved significantly more mean step counts/day than the non-ASPA pupils. There were no significant fluctuations across months and seasons in PA levels of ASPA pupils when compared to non-ASPA pupils. We conclude that regular organised ASPA might increase the pupils' total PA levels; and could help to maintain a relatively constant PA level for adolescents across the whole school-year regardless of the influences of a range of weather and meteorological indicators that are related to months/seasons.

Keywords: adolescents; day, month and season variability; pedometer; physical education; self-determined physical activity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Steps per day (M; 95% CI) achieved by ASPA and non-ASPA pupils by weekdays with PE lesson, weekdays without PE lesson and weekends.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Steps per day (M; 95% CI) achieved by ASPA and non-ASPA pupils by days of the week.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Steps per day (M; 95% CI) achieved by ASPA and non-ASPA pupils by months of the school year.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Steps per day (M; 95% CI) achieved by ASPA and non-ASPA pupils by season of the school year.
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