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• Ansari, W
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7(7), 2853-2865; doi:10.3390/ijerph7072853

Article

Is Participation in After-School Physical Activity Associated with Increased Total Physical Activity? A Study of High School Pupils in the Czech Republic

Jana Pelclová ¹ , Walid El Ansari ^2,*  and Jana Vašíčková ¹

¹ Center for Kinanthropology Research, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacky University, Tr. Miru 115, Olomouc 77111, Czech Republic ² Faculty of Sport, Health and Social Care, University of Gloucestershire, Oxstalls Campus, Oxstalls Lane, Gloucester GL2 9HW, UK

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 8 June 2010; in revised form: 7 July 2010 / Accepted: 8 July 2010 / Published: 13 July 2010

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health and Wellbeing of Children, Adolescents and Young Adults)

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Abstract: This study assessed the physical activity (PA) levels and its variability across days, months and seasons of two groups of high school pupils: those who did and those who did not participate in regular organized after-school physical activity (ASPA). Thirteen pupils wore pedometers continuously for one school-year, logged their step counts into record sheets and were then interviewed for information as regards their participation in any ASPA. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that regardless of the day, month and season, ASPA pupils achieved significantly more mean step counts/day than the non-ASPA pupils. There were no significant fluctuations across months and seasons in PA levels of ASPA pupils when compared to non-ASPA pupils. We conclude that regular organised ASPA might increase the pupils’ total PA levels; and could help to maintain a relatively constant PA level for adolescents across the whole school-year regardless of the influences of a range of weather and meteorological indicators that are related to months/seasons.

Keywords: pedometer; adolescents; self-determined physical activity; day; month and season variability; physical education

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