Construction of a monitoring system to elucidate the physical activity and physical fitness disparity among children

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14152
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: Shimane University
• Principal Investigator: Abe Takafumi 島根大学, 学術研究院医学・看護学系, 助教 (30794953)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 身体活動 / 体力 / 子ども

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study promoted the construction of a comprehensive monitoring system for children from preschool years onwards in the entire region. The results for each objective of this study are as follows. Objective 1: The cross-sectional study revealed regional disparities in physical activity among elementary and junior high school students. The longitudinal study also suggested that the population density in the residential area and the adult educational attainment may have a long-term effect on physical activity. Objective 2: There was no difference in the amount of physical activity carried out in early childhood by facility type, although there was a large variation between each preschool facility. It became clear that fundamental movement skills in early childhood were correlated with fundamental movement skills until the upper grades of elementary school, suggesting the need for measures to remove disparity in physical activity and fundamental movement skills from younger ages.

Free Research Field

スポーツ科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

身体活動が体力の獲得に重要であることは、様々な研究から明らかとなっている。しかし、日本の地域レベルの子どもの身体活動量は不明であり、欧米で報告されているように社会経済・物理的環境要因が子どもの身体活動へ影響するか長期的な関連は検討されていない。また、体力への長期的な影響も十分に検証されていない。そこで、本研究は、地域全体を包括的にモニタリングし、上記の課題を検証した。その結果、居住する地域の人口密度・教育到達状況が身体活動実施に影響しており、さらに幼児期の体力が小学校高学年まで長期に影響する可能性が示唆された。本知見は、子どもの身体活動・体力格差是正に向けた教育政策の一助になると考えられる。