Original article
Physical Activity Trajectories and Multilevel Factors Among Adolescent Girls

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.07.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Although the decline of physical activity in adolescent girls is well-documented, there are girls whose physical activity does not follow this pattern. This study examined the relationships between physical activity trajectories and personal, psychosocial, and environmental factors among adolescent girls.

Methods

Participants were from the University of Maryland field site of the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. Of 730 girls measured in 8th grade, 589 were remeasured in 11th grade. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed by accelerometers; participants were categorized as active maintainers (n = 31), inactive maintainers (n = 410), adopters (n = 64), or relapsers (n = 56). Height and weight were measured, personal and psychosocial information was collected from surveys, and distance from home to school and parks was assessed from Geographical Information Systems. Multivariable logistic regression was used for data analysis.

Results

Variables at individual, social, and environmental levels predicted active maintainers and inactive maintainers, while only individual-level variables predicted adoption. None predicted relapse. Higher (favorable) scores for physical self-concept, perceived body fat, friend and family physical activity support, frequency of physical activity with friends, and shorter distance from home to a park predicted active maintainers. Overweight/obese status, earlier age at menses, and lower scores for physical self-concept, perceived body fat, friend physical activity support, and frequency of physical activity with friends, and farther distance from home to school predicted inactive maintainers. High physical self-concept and not being overweight/obese predicted adopters.

Conclusions

Multilevel factors appear to predict behavior maintenance rather than actual change.

Section snippets

Methods

This study used data from The Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls 2 (TAAG2) study [11]. TAAG2 was a cross-sectional and longitudinal examination of physical activity in 8th and 11th grade girls who were originally recruited from the University of Maryland TAAG field site. Baseline data for TAAG were collected at six field sites and 36 middle schools (six per field site) across the United States in 2002 (6th grade girls), 2005 (8th grade girls), and 2006 (8th grade girls) [12], [13]. The TAAG2

Results

There were 730 girls who were measured at the University of Maryland field site in 2006. Of these, we recruited and measured 589 (81%) in 2009 when the girls were in 11th grade [32]. Twenty-six girls had insufficient physical activity data and an additional two were missing height or weight data, bringing the sample to 561 participants. As indicated in Figure 1, prevalence of active and inactive categories was similar between 8th and 11th grade.

Table 1 displays the distribution of all

Discussion

Results of this study highlight the complexity of physical activity change trajectories for adolescent girls. Although variables at individual, social, and environmental levels were predictors of active maintainers and inactive maintainers, only individual-level variables predicted adoption. None predicted relapse. Thus, multilevel factors appear to predict behavior maintenance rather than actual change between 8th and 11th grade.

It is notable that, for the most part, the variables predictive

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by R01 HL119058 from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. We appreciate the willingness of the girls to participate in this research. All coauthors made substantial contributions to the manuscript.

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