title: Young children's after-school activities - there's more to it than screen time: a cross-sectional study of young primary school children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children can spend substantial amounts of leisure time in sedentary activities, dominated by TV/screen time. However, objective real-time measurement of activities after school among young school children is seldom described.
  
  
  METHODS
  School children (n = 246, 5-7 years old, mean 6.0) and their parents were recruited by random selection from 14 schools across Sydney, Australia. Parents used a real-time objective measure (Experience Sampling Method, ESM) to record children's activities and whether they were indoors or outdoors at 3 random times each day after school. Data were collected across 4 weekdays in 1 week and then, 13 weeks later, another 4 weekdays in 1 week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results were based on 2940 responses from 214 child-parent dyads showed that 25% of behavior involved physical activity, 51% was spent in sedentary activities, and 22% was TV/screen time. Most instances (81%) occurred indoors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite a high proportion of TV/screen time, children were also engaged in a range of other sedentary and physically active pursuits after school. Hence TV/screen time is not a suitable proxy for all sedentary behavior, and it is important to gather information on other non-screen-based sedentary and physically active behaviors. Future research is warranted to further investigate after-school activities in young primary school children.
authors: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Lidcombe, Australia.
authors: Lina
authors: L
authors: Engelen
authors: Anita C
authors: AC
authors: Bundy
authors: Adrian
authors: A
authors: Bauman
authors: Geraldine
authors: G
authors: Naughton
authors: Shirley
authors: S
authors: Wyver
authors: Louise
authors: L
authors: Baur
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010290:Parents; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012574:Schools; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D013690:Television