title: The Light Time-Use Diary and preschool activity patterns: exploratory study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct an exploratory study of time-use patterns in Australian 5-year-old children, and to pilot the novel Children's Light Time-Use Diary as a potential tool for investigating relationships between children's time-use and weight status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects for the present cross-sectional study were drawn from an established longitudinal cohort and included eighty-four 5-year-old Australian children (36 males) originally recruited as infants in three local government areas of Melbourne. Children were weighed and measured, and body mass index (BMI; kg/m(2)) calculated. Over three to four complete 24-hour periods, parents completed the Children's Light Time-Use Diary to record their child's activities in 15-minute blocks and details about the context in which the activities took place, selecting from a list of predetermined options.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The children studied were largely sedentary, with television viewing the most time-consuming activity outside sleep. Only 49% of children spent any time walking for transport or pleasure. Children spent a median of 71% of their time in activities that were likely to be physically active when outdoors, compared with 3% when indoors, but averaged only 110 minutes/day outdoors (excluding passive transport). The 11 overweight/obese children watched significantly more television than non-overweight children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Children's Light Time-Use Diary appears to be a practical and informative tool, which may complement accelerometry as a tool relevant to future studies of the determinants of child overweight/obesity. Further validation studies and larger research trials seem warranted.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Child Health, University of Melbourne & Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tey
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wake
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hampton
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013997:Time Factors; D014739:Victoria