Article

Survey of teenagers’ physical activity behaviour, 2007

By Jeanette Fich Jespersen

Capacent Epinion conducted a survey on behalf of KOMPAN concerning the behaviour of young Danes aged 13–16 when it comes to outdoor physical activity. Of the 1,040 who responded to the survey, 34% were girls and 66% were boys. The survey was conducted on Arto.dk, which has 165,000 active users in this age segment. According to Statistics Denmark, the total population in this age group as of 1 January 2007 is 256,548.

The survey confirms a number of existing surveys and also documents some results of previous focus group interviews. However, in some aspects, the survey contradicted the focus group answers – e.g. in terms of times of the day and week when young people spend time outside: weekends and evenings are barely represented.

Overall, the survey is extremely interesting because it demonstrates behaviour in a group for whom it is a challenge to create activities. The responses are delineated by sex and age groups so that activities for girls and for the older teenagers can be seen in isolation. We already know from many surveys that getting girls over 14 to be active presents the biggest challenge. In this survey, they answer specifically concerning the facilities they prefer and use for physical activities outdoors. There is a great need for knowledge of young people’s preferences with regard to physical activity, because physical activity dwindles as they get older.
 

Main points:

The following figures are adjusted pro rata:

• 58% want more places where they can meet other young people locally
• 40% believe there are too few outdoor places locally where they can be physically active
• 55% think some playgrounds are attractive places to hang out
• 46% answer that being active in a playground is fun

In the multiple choice answers concerning which outdoor activities they like best, the 13–15-year-olds responded as follows:

• 54% of girls mention shopping as their top choice of outdoor physical activity
• Girls mostly hang out on shopping streets (51%) and at sports grounds (48%)
• Boys mostly hang out at sports grounds (62%) and skater parks (38%)
• 60% are most active outdoors after school on weekdays
• Only 5% are active outside in the afternoons at weekends

Outdoor places are attractive if

• there are lots of opportunities for activities (68%)
• there are lots of young people (61%)
• the place is secure and tidy (55%)

In a playground, the most-used apparatus is as follows:

• Agility tracks (65%) unisex
• Swings (63%) mostly girls
• Climbing apparatus (48%) unisex
• Ball pitches (46%) predominantly boys
• Skater ramps (34%) overwhelmingly boys
• Spinning apparatus (29%) predominantly girls

The survey reviewed question by question

1. How much time did you spend on physical activity yesterday?

Here, more than 63% answered more than 60 minutes. It is striking, however, that only 47% of girls compared to 71% of boys had been active for more than 60 minutes. Even among the least active children (0–15 minutes), there are three times as many inactive girls as boys (9% compared to 3%).

Physical activity decreases with age.

2. What types of physical activity do you do outdoors?

The vast majority of children cycle or walk to and from school. The biggest gender differences are that 54% of girls mention shopping (compared to 19% of boys) as their main activity. Among the boys, “playing ball games for fun” (not in a sports club) is the top scorer, at 46% (compared to 28% of girls). Girls also enjoy walks (49%), and 38/39% mention jogging. With regard to playgrounds, 19% of girls and 11% of boys mention these in connection with outdoor physical activity.

Right across the age groups, jogging, walking and shopping feature more as they get older, while playing ball games for fun and playgrounds diminish in importance.

3. Imagine an outdoor place for young people your age – what would be the most important thing for you?

The top scorers from the answers to this question are “lots of opportunities for activities” (67% of girls/68% of boys), “lots of young people” (69% of girls/56% of boys), and “it should be safe and tidy” (47% of girls/38% boys). These trends increase with age.

With regard to the location, 47% of girls and 38% of boys think it is important for the place to be within cycling distance of where they live. This trend increases with their ages.

With regard to the place itself, 15% of girls and 18% of boys think there should be

adults keeping an eye on the place. This trend increases the older they are. Conversely, 23% of girls and 27% of boys think there should NOT be adults keeping an eye on the place. However, this trend decreases the older they are. Overall, these points attracted the lowest score in terms of importance – so perhaps it is an adult concern. It might be interesting to dig deeper with regard to what “safe and tidy” actually means.

Covered areas and shelter take on more importance the older they are.
There is no gender preference here: 37% of girls and 38% of boys consider this to be important.

4. How often to you engage in physical activity outdoors?

Here, the majority answered “every day” (53% of girls, 61% of boys). This trend diminishes slightly the older they are, from 64% of 13-year-olds to 58% of 16-year-olds.

5. Which places do you hang out in the most when you are outdoors?

This point could do with some clarification, because 61% of girls and 52% of boys replied “Other”, and this trend increases the older they are. From the focus group interviews in Denmark, we know that the school playground is an attraction – perhaps that is what they are referring to. Another questionnaire would be required to explore this.

For girls, the second-highest scorer is “Shopping streets,” at 51% – compared to 28% of boys. Sports grounds and courts were the top scorers among boys at 62%, and also came a fair second among girls at 48%.

“Nature” accounts for 41% of girls’ activities and 24% of boys’. Skater parks score third-highest among boys at 38%, but only 11% of girls mention these.

Parks have a score of 23% among girls and 21% among boys. And playgrounds come last, with 13% of girls and 6% boys.

6. Thinking of the number of places where you live where young people your age can meet – which statement do you most strongly agree with?

“There are too few places for young people; I’d like there to be more”: 58% agreed.  27% think the number of places is about right. As many as 10% responded that there were no places for young people.

7. Thinking of the number of outdoor places where you can be physically active near where you live, which statement do you most strongly agree with?

Here, 49% answered that the number of places is about right. 40% answer that there are too few places.

The conclusion to questions 3, 7 and 8 must be that the social element – lots of other young people – is what attracts young people. Activity comes  2nd.

8. At what time are you most physically active outdoors?
Here, 60% answer “Weekdays – in the afternoon when school is out”.
19% are active at school on a daily basis. 10% are active weekday evenings, and weekends showed virtually no outdoor activities. This confirms figures we already have from surveys of young people’s physical activity.

Once again, the question here is whether this is due to a lack of the right places, or to lack of interest. Weekends seem to be whiled away indoors, and this trend is evenly distributed across the age groups.

Interestingly enough, several of the older teenagers mention school and school time as the place for physical activity (25% of 16-year-olds compared to 12% of 13-year-olds). Afternoon activities outside school times diminish the older they are.

9. Could you picture hanging out with your friends in a playground?

55% answer “Yes – I think some playgrounds are attractive to me and my friends”. Here, 61% of girls agree compared to 52% of boys. Distributed by age, 65% of 13-year-olds agree with this statement and, remarkably, so do as many as 45% of 16-year-olds. This is surprising in light of question 5, where just 8% mention playgrounds as one of the places they hang out most.
45% answered “No, there’s no way I can picture hanging out with my friends on a playground”.

There are two very interesting points in these answers: the fact that so many are positive AND the fact that comparatively more girls are positive. After all, the girls are the ones who otherwise prefer shopping streets (cf. question 5).

10. Could you picture being physically active in a playground and using playground apparatus?

Again, a surprisingly positive result: 46% answer “Yes – I think it’s fun to exercise in a playground”. Here again, the girls are in the majority at 54% compared to 41% of boys. Distributed by age groups, 54% of 13-year-olds and 43% of 16-year-olds said Yes to this question.

Here we have plenty of scope to ask our municipalities how many playgrounds they actually have that are also intended for young people…

11. What apparatus do you use when you’re exercising in a playground?
Here, the top scorers for girls are swings (86% – for boys, however, it is as much as 47%), while agility tracks are the top scorer for boys (61%). Overall, agility tracks are the most popular type of apparatus, because 72% of girls also mention them. Ball pitches are the second-biggest hit with boys (50%), closely followed by climbing apparatus and skater ramps (respectively 48% and 47%). Skater ramps, on the other hand, figure rather low on the girls’ list, at just 16%. Like the boys, the girls enjoy climbing apparatus (48%), but ball pitches and spinning apparatus are of almost equal interest (respectively 38% and 36%).

These answers are extremely interesting, but they also have their limitations: types of apparatus involving spinning and ball pitches are less familiar. The fact that girls are much more interested than boys in spinning apparatus is a fascinating detail, in light of girls’ preferences for “supple/elegant” and boys’ preferences for strength-building/sweaty” activities. We saw this trend clearly in the focus group interviews.

12. What would it take for you to be more active outdoors?

To this question, 37% of girls and 20% of boys – or 25% altogether – answered “More outdoor activity places for young people”. A total of 15% answered “Other”. Again, it could be interesting to probe this “Other” response.

There are several gender differences in these answers: 27% of boys answered “More skater ramps”, 18% “More sports pitches” – the trend here tends to diminish the older they are; the younger ones are the most enthusiastic. Skater ramps and sports pitches only figure in 6% and 8% respectively of the girls’ answers. Conversely, 11% of girls answered “Outdoor places need to be tidy and safe”. Only 1% of young people (2% of girls, 1% of boys) answered “more playgrounds”.

Additional surveys
As well as conducting a UK survey of the same calibre, it might be interesting to further clarify some of these answers.

Regarding question 3, “If you picture an outdoor place for young people your age – what would be important to you?” 55% responded that it should be “safe and tidy”. At the same time, they did not think it was very important for adults to keep an eye on the place. What, then, does “Safe and tidy” mean? Here we could probe more deeply, e.g. lighting, waste bins, seats, etc.

Question 5, “Which places do you hang out in the most when you are outdoors?”: 55% answered “Other”. In the focus group interviews, the school playground was mentioned as a place to hang out. We wonder whether this could be strongly represented in “Other”.

Question 11: “What apparatus do you use when you’re exercising in a playground?” could also benefit from probing with questions about more specific products.