Decline in Physical Activity in Black Girls and White Girls during Adolescence

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 347; no. 10; pp. 709 - 715
• Main Authors: Kimm, Sue Y.S, Glynn, Nancy W, Kriska, Andrea M, Barton, Bruce A, Kronsberg, Shari S, Daniels, Stephen R, Crawford, Patricia B, Sabry, Zak I, Liu, Kiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 05.09.2002
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Child; Child development; Education; Educational Status; European Continental Ancestry Group; Exercise; Female; Health maintenance organizations; High school basketball; HMOs; Humans; Income; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Pregnancy; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Smoking - epidemiology; Socioeconomic factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; United States - epidemiology; United States; North America; America; Human; Physical exercise; Negroid; Sedentarization; Epidemiology; Cohort study; Adolescent; Risk factor; Race; Female; Caucasoid; Child; Public health; African American
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa003277

In this longitudinal study of black girls and white girls, the authors measured habitual levels of recreational activity from the age of 8 or 9 through the age of 18 or 19 years. The level of physical activity declined precipitously over time, so that by the age of 18 or 19, 56 percent of black girls and 31 percent of white girls reported no habitual recreational activity. Predictors of declines in physical activity among black girls, white girls, or both included lower levels of parental education, higher body-mass index, pregnancy, and cigarette smoking. By the age of 18 or 19, 56 percent of black girls and 31 percent of white girls report no habitual recreational activity. Since the early 1960s, the prevalence of obesity in female children and adolescents in the United States has more than doubled, with the greatest increase among black girls. 1 Periodic surveys show no concomitant increase in food intake. 2 , 3 Analogous information on trends in activity level in this population is not available. It has been conjectured that adolescents have become less active in recent years, and that this trend may be responsible for the increased prevalence of obesity. 4 – 8 In cross-sectional studies, activity levels have been reported to drop by as much as 50 percent during adolescence. 7 , 8 Although white girls . . .