Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112635

Susan Babey, PhD¹, Allison Diamant, MD, MSHS², Theresa Hastert¹, and E. Richard Brown, PhD¹. (1) UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 10911 Weyburn Ave, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90024, 310 794-0812, erbrown@ucla.edu, (2) Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, UCLA, 911 Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Despite the well-documented benefits of physical activity, many adolescents do not get regular physical activity or get no activity at all. We estimated the prevalence of regular physical activity and physical inactivity and examined the relationship between physical education (PE) requirements and physical activity among California adolescents aged 12-17. Based on data from the 2001 and 2003 California Health Interview Surveys (CHIS), biennial random-digit dial (RDD) telephone surveys of households in California, 7.3% of adolescents were physically inactive in 2003, a significant increase from 2001 when 5.2% were inactive (p<0.01). Level of physical activity varied with PE requirements. The prevalence of regular physical activity was higher among adolescents whose schools require PE (73.0%) than among those whose schools do not require PE (59.5%, p<0.001); and the prevalence of physical inactivity was nearly twice as high among adolescents whose schools do not require PE (11.7% vs. 6.2%, p<0.01). In addition, the prevalence of regular physical activity varied dramatically by race/ethnicity and PE requirements. Differences in prevalence of regular activity between racial/ethnic groups were much larger among adolescents whose schools do not require PE than among those whose schools do require PE. PE requirements also had a differential impact on boys' and girls' physical activity. The relationship between PE requirements and physical activity after adjusting for sociodemographic factors will be examined. These findings suggest that physical education requirements at school are an important factor related to adolescents' participation in physical activity and may be a promising area for intervention efforts.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the physical activity status of California adolescents.
• Identify the demographic characteristics of less active adolescents.
• Discuss the impact of school physical education requirements on adolescent physical activity.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation