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. 2023 Dec 6;2(1):30.
doi: 10.1186/s44167-023-00039-z.

Continuous-time modeling of the multivariate relationships between physical activity levels and stationary time in preschool-aged children: an investigation of the ActivityStat hypothesis

Carminda Goersch Lamboglia  1 , Geralyn R Ruissen  1 , Nicholas Kuzik  1   2 , Valerie Carson  1 , John C Spence  3
Affiliations

Continuous-time modeling of the multivariate relationships between physical activity levels and stationary time in preschool-aged children: an investigation of the ActivityStat hypothesis

Carminda Goersch Lamboglia et al. J Act Sedentary Sleep Behav. .

Abstract

Background: The ActivityStat hypothesis proposes that an increase or decrease in physical activity (PA) greater than a certain set point activates behavioural and/or energy compensatory responses to maintain a stable level of total energy expenditure. Few studies have tested this hypothesis in children and even fewer have focused on young children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the ActivityStat hypothesis by examining the presence and timeframe of the relationships among PA levels and stationary time (ST) in preschool-aged children.

Methods: A secondary analysis was performed on repeated measurement data (i.e., day-to-day activity) involving 98 preschool-aged children (age: 4.5 ± 0.7 years) in Edmonton, Canada. Participants were asked to wear an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT on the waist for 7 consecutive days to assess PA levels (i.e., light PA [LPA], and moderate-to-vigorous PA[MVPA]) and ST. Bayesian continuous-time structural equation modeling (CT-SEM) was used to examine the relationship between behaviours over time and the timeframe during which these relationships occur.

Results: Each behaviour (i.e., LPA, MVPA, and ST) positively and meaningfully predicted itself at a later time. These relationships persisted up to 0.5 days later, at which point past behaviour no longer meaningfully predicted future behaviour. In contrast, no relationships were observed between the three behaviours.

Conclusions: This is the first study to investigate the ActivityStat hypothesis using Bayesian CT-SEM in preschool-aged children. When simultaneously taking into account all dynamic relationships suggested by the ActivityStat, the findings fail to support the hypothesis.

Keywords: Accelerometery; Activity compensation; Child; Movement; Sedentary behaviour.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval was provided for both the secondary analysis and the Parent–Child Movement Behaviours and Pre-School Children’s Development project by the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Standardized discrete-time autoregressive effects. LPA = light physical activity; MVPA = moderate-vigorous physical activity; ST = stationary time
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Standardized discrete-time cross-lagged effects. LPA = light physical activity; MVPA = moderate-vigorous physical activity; ST = stationary time
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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