CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS DURING SCHOOL BREAK, AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY USING SOPLAY

Theoretical background: The physical activity (PA) practice in a school is very important for children from low-income households located in depressed areas. The children cannot have access to extra-curricular PA programs due to the lack of appropriate offers for these areas, security problems for being working children or the lack of financial resources (Blatchtford, Baines &Pellegrini, 2003). School seems to be an appropriate place to be active at break time. However, it is not clear how environmental factors at school yard influence the children PA levels at different ages. In addition, there are important differences between children and adolescents related to PA. Children's innate necessity to move can contribute to increase their PA levels compared to adolescents even in similar environments (Rowland & Hughes, 2006). Objective: in this study children and adolescents PA levels from the same school were compared (adolescents go to school in the morning, children go in the afternoon). The observers used the SOPLAY system (System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth) (McKenzie, 2000) to obtain the data related to the quantity and type of PA developed by children and adolescents during the schools breaks. Results: the results indicate that 52.7% of the students do not perform any type of PA during the schools breaks and remain sedentary, 27.2% practice PA in a moderate intensity, 20,1% perform PA with a strong intensity. 47, 3% of school children and adolescents perform PA from moderate to vigorous intensity (MVPA). The results show significant differences (p < .5) between children and adolescents, children are more active during school breaks than adolescents.