Levels of insufficient health-related physical activity in Portuguese adolescents

The negative consequences of physical inactivity and insufficient health-related physical activity during adolescence represent a major public health concern. Therefore, the aims of the present study are twofold: i) to investigate the inadequate levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a sample of Portuguese youth, and ii) to examine sex-, age category- and sports participation-related effects on the MVPA levels. A total of 1054 adolescents (612 girls and 442 boys), aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 14.40, SD = 1.55), completed a sociodemographic survey and the PACE+ measure (Prochaska et al., 2001). The total score of this last measure was used to categorize the total sample into three groups (physically inactive: >= 60 min of MVPA in < 1 day/week; insufficiently active: >= 60 min in >= 5 days/week; and, physically active: >= 60 min in >= 5 days/week). Descriptive statistics included means, standard deviations, and percentages. The chi-square test was employed in order to compare proportions between variables (p< 0.05). Analysis of the total sample showed relatively moderate to high percentages of physically inactive (22.7%) and insufficiently active adolescents (69.6%), whereas the physically active group only represented 7.7% of the total sample. Comparisons between subgroups showed that the percentage of physically inactive adolescents was significantly higher among girls (+17.2% than boys), late adolescents (+11.2% than early adolescents) and non-sports youth (+28.6% than young athletes). In sum, this cross-sectional study shows high and worrying levels of insufficient health-related physical activity in a sample of Portuguese youth.