Social disparities in adolescents' physical activity - direct and indirect paths to explain the social heritage of physical (in-)activity

ObjectiveDespite the importance of physical activity for the health of adolescents, recent studies have shown substantial evidence of social disparities in adolescents’ physical activity. The state of knowledge is primarily... [ view full abstract ]

Objective

Despite the importance of physical activity for the health of adolescents, recent studies have shown substantial evidence of social disparities in adolescents’ physical activity. The state of knowledge is primarily based on reanalyses of comprehensive surveys. Therefore, the relationships and interdependences between socio-cultural factors are not yet identified in relation to physical activity in adolescence. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and prove a theory-based model of the relationships between Bourdieus’ types of capital and adolescents’ physical activity behavior as well as examining indirect pathways.

Design and method

This cross-sectional survey involved 966 adolescents (M_age = 14.80, SD = .75; N = 524 female). The participants were recruited from 47 Grade 9 classes from 22 secondary schools (seven general secondary schools, six intermediate secondary schools, and nine higher secondary schools). Multilevel path analysis was used to investigate direct and indirect effects between the variables and to account for the hierarchical data structure.

Results

The path-model shows a good fit to the empirical data, χ² = 29.169, df = 4, p < .001 (scaling correction factor for MLR = 0.940), CFI = .969, RMSEA = .082, 90% CI [.056, .112], SRMR = .030 and explains 6% of the variance in physical activity. Furthermore, the path-model indicates that the relationship between parental institutionalized culture capital and leisure-time physical activity of adolescents was parallel mediated by parental physical activity behavior, parental occupational prestige and adolescents’ social capital, as well as sequentially mediated via parental occupational prestige and social capital.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the theoretical approach by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu can be used to explain hidden mechanism in social disparities in the context of leisure time physical activity in adolescences. In particular, the social capital is an important mediator of the effects of social disparities.