title: Diversity of leisure-time sport activities in adolescence as a predictor of leisure-time physical activity in adulthood.
abstract: Because sustained physical activity is important for a healthy life, this paper examined whether a greater diversity of sport activities during adolescence predicts higher levels of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in adulthood. From sport activity participation reported by 17-year-old twins, we formed five groups: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5+ different sport activities. At follow-up in their mid-thirties, twins were divided into four activity classes based on LTPA, including active commuting. Multinomial regression analyses, adjusted for several confounders, were conducted separately for male (N=1288) and female (N=1770) participants. Further, conditional logistic regression analysis included 23 twin pairs discordant for both diversity of sport activities in adolescence and LTPA in adulthood. The diversity of leisure-time sport activities in adolescence had a significant positive association with adulthood LTPA among females. Membership in the most active adult quartile, compared to the least active quartile, was predicted by participation in 2, 3, 4, and 5+ sport activities in adolescence with odds ratios: 1.52 (P=.11), 1.86 (P=.02), 1.29 (P=.39), and 3.12 (P=5.4e-05), respectively. Within-pair analyses, limited by the small sample of twins discordant for both adolescent activities and adult outcomes, did not replicate the association. A greater diversity of leisure-time sport activities in adolescence predicts higher levels of LTPA in adulthood in females, but the causal nature of this association remains unresolved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mäkelä
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aaltonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Korhonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Health, National Institute of Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaprio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D013177:Sports; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: behavioral epidemiology; cohort study; exercise; longitudinal; twin study; youth