title: Life transitions in the waning of physical activity from childhood to adult life in the Trois-Rivières study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies have reported an age-related decline of physical activity (PA). We examined the impact of 4 important transitional periods-adolescence, the beginning of postsecondary education, entry into the labor market, and parenthood-on the PA of participants in the Trois-Rivières quasi-experimental study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2008, 44 women and 42 men aged 44.0 ± 1.2 years were given a semistructured interview; the frequency and duration of physical activities were examined during each of these transition periods. Subjects had been assigned to either an experimental program [5 h of weekly physical education (PE) from Grades 1 to 6] or the standard curriculum (40 min of weekly PE) throughout primary school.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of individuals undertaking ≥ 5 h of PA per week decreased from 70.4% to 17.0% between adolescence and midlife. The largest decline occurred on entering the labor market (from 55.9% to 23.4%). At midlife, there were no significant differences of PA level between experimental and control groups. Men were more active than women at each transition except for parenthood.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results highlight a progressive nonlinear decline of PA involvement in both groups. Promotion initiatives should target these periods to prevent the decline of PA.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Physical Activity Sciences, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Larouche
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Laurencelle
authors.forename: Roy J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Shephard
authors.forename: Francois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Trudeau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D057566:Self Report; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult