Individual and collective sports practice and associated factors among adolescents belonging to a birth cohort study

Abstract

The present study investigated individual and collective sports practice and associated factors among adolescents with a mean age of 11 years, belonging to a birth cohort study. Information on the adolescents and on their mothers were obtained through questionnaires. The outcome variable was divided into practice of individual and collective sports. Poisson regression models were used in order to determine the factors associated with sports practice, following a hierarchical framework. A total of 4350 adolescents were interviewed. Practice of collective sports was less frequent among girls - 68.1% (95%CI 66.2 - 70.0) in comparison to boys- 82.1% (95%CI 80.5 - 83.7). Regarding individual sports, the prevalence was 12.9% (95%CI 11.6 - 14.4) and 18.9% (95%CI 17.3 - 20.6) in girls and boys, respectively. Among girls, individual sports practice was directly associated with socioeconomic level and inversely with television viewing. Among boys, the outcome was associated with studying in private schools and having an active mother. In terms of collective sports, the practice was less frequent among those with high level of television viewing. In both sexes, a direct association was observed between videogame playing and sports practice. Public policies should consider the different aspects related to sports practice and consider socioeconomic inequalities in sports practice.