Sedentary habits of diverse, urban adolescents: An examination of current health-related behaviors and implications for community health

Background Public health campaigns to promote physical activity are among the community-level responses to the obesity epidemic and sedentary lifestyles. Current estimates of sedentary behaviors among urban adolescents are uncertain. The purpose of this study is to define the prevalence of sedentary time among diverse urban adolescents and to explore the relationship of sedentary behaviors to other weight-related variables.

Methodology Weighted data represent 43,753 urban public high school students that completed the Fall 2010 Philadelphia Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Among these, 23.2% reported prolific sedentary behavior, defined as at least 6 hours per day of non-academic screen time. Health behaviors including recent smoking (past 30 days); daily soda consumption; and daily vegetable consumption were compared between students reporting and not reporting prolific sedentary behavior. Analyses included chi-square tests to inform prevalence ratio calculations.

Results The sub-sample reporting prolific sedentary behavior is split equally by gender. Adolescents reporting prolific sedentary behavior are more likely to be recent smokers (PR=1.20; CI=1.12-1.29), to drink non-diet soda (PR=1.50; CI=1.46-1.55) and are less likely to report vegetable consumption (PR=.91; CI=.90-.93). Each of these health risk behaviors co-occurs with prolific sedentary behavior more frequently among males than females.

Conclusion Despite living within a built environment supportive of daily physical activity, Philadelphia's adolescents report prolific sedentary behavior at alarmingly high rates. Concern for adiposity and lifestyle-related diseases is high, particularly among sedentary males. Urban communities must promote physical activity in lieu of sedentary pursuits as one step in forestalling rising rates of obesity in youth.