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A latent profile analysis of sedentary and physical activity patterns

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Abstract

Aim

The aim of the current study was to examine the physical activity and sedentary behavioral patterns of children and adolescents using the model-based latent profile analysis (LPA) approach.

Subject and methods

A sample of 847 school children aged 10 to 16 years from 28 Singapore schools took part in the study. Physical activity and sedentary behavior were assessed using a 7-day physical activity recall questionnaire.

Results

The findings of the present study showed that there were at least five groups of students with unique sedentary and physical activity patterns. A few clusters were gender-specific. For example, groups 1 and 4 were female-dominated clusters and group 3 was male-dominated. The younger children in the primary school had different sedentary and physical activity behaviors.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the use of LPA to group individuals into homogenous groupings in order to help researchers make informed decisions about the number of underlying groupings. This can have benefits for targeting specific groups in interventions.

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by funding obtained from the Ministry of Education (Singapore) Education Research Fund (EP 2/06 JW). The authors would also like to thank the reviewers of this article for their effort and insightful comments.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Education and Sports Science, National Institute of Education, 1 Nanyang Walk, Blk 5 #03–12, Singapore, Singapore

    C. K. John Wang, Woon Chia Liu & B. S. Coral Lim

  2. School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK

    Stuart J. H. Biddle

Authors
  1. C. K. John Wang
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  2. Stuart J. H. Biddle
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  3. Woon Chia Liu
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  4. B. S. Coral Lim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. K. John Wang.

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Wang, C.K.J., Biddle, S.J.H., Liu, W.C. et al. A latent profile analysis of sedentary and physical activity patterns. J Public Health 20, 367–373 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-011-0464-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-011-0464-9

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