Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and socioeconomic status among Finnish girls and boys aged 6-8 years

We studied differences in physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and the types of PA and SB between Finnish girls and boys and children from different socioeconomic backgrounds (SES). We assessed PA, SB, parental education, and household income using detailed questionnaires in a representative population sample of 486 children (238 girls, 248 boys) aged 6-8 years. Girls spent on average 1.7 h/day and boys 2.0 h/day in total PA (p=0.002). Altogether 66% of girls and 54% of boys had less than 2 h of total PA per day (p=0.012). Girls had lower levels of unsupervised PA (45 vs. 54 min/day, p=0.001), supervised PA (1.5 vs. 1.9 h/week, p=0.009), and PA during school recess (1.8 vs. 1.9 h/week, p=0.032) than boys. Girls had higher levels of total SB (3.8 vs. 3.4 h/day, p=0.015) but lower levels of screen-based SB (1.5 vs. 1.9 h/day, p<0.001) than boys. Lower parental education and household income were associated with lower levels of supervised PA in girls (p=0.011 and p=0.008, respectively) and in boys (p=0.006 and p=0.003, respectively). Lower parental education and household income were also related to higher levels of screen-based SB in boys (p=0.005 and p<0.001, respectively) but not in girls. Girls have lower levels of total, unsupervised, and supervised PA, PA during recess, and screen-based SB but higher levels of total SB than boys. Lower parental education and household income are associated with lower levels of supervised PA in both genders and higher levels of screen-based SB in boys.