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Table 2 Changes in self-reported frequency and duration of 18 popular forms of sport and physical activity1 from before Covid to during Covid: persons by region

From: The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on Australians' frequency and duration of participation in different types of sport and physical activity

Activity

Region2

n3

Frequency4 (sessions per 14 days)

Duration5 (minutes per session)

p values6

  

Mean before Covid

Mean during Covid

Change %

Mean before Covid

Mean during Covid

Change %

Athletics

Metro

116

3.18

2.48

− 22.1

50.65

29.42

− 41.9

Non-metro

45

5.76

2.64

− 54.1

51.85

19.77

− 61.9

All

161

3.90

2.53

− 35.3

50.99

26.65

− 47.7

p values

  

Year .006

  

Year < .001

  

Australian football

Metro

366

2.57

0.95

− 63.0

66.32

23.64

− 64.3

Non-metro

237

2.96

0.92

− 68.9

66.94

19.94

− 70.2

All

603

2.72

0.94

− 65.5

66.56

22.18

− 66.7

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Basketball

Metro

241

2.80

2.25

− 19.7

44.59

20.18

− 54.7

Non-metro

94

2.65

1.28

− 51.6

49.41

14.47

− 70.7

All

335

2.76

1.97

− 28.7

45.95

18.63

− 59.5

p values

  

Year .003

  

Year < .001 Region .020

Year x Region .020

  

Bowls

Metro

713

6.48

0.50

− 92.2

160.86

35.72

− 77.8

Non-metro

388

5.66

0.42

− 92.6

151.23

38.98

− 74.2

All

1101

6.19

0.47

− 92.4

157.50

36.85

− 76.6

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Boxing

Metro

138

1.89

0.99

− 47.4

38.30

14.11

− 63.2

Non-metro

68

2.64

2.91

10.3

33.06

15.50

− 53.1

All

206

2.14

1.63

− 23.9

36.58

14.55

− 60.2

p values

  

Region .049

  

Year < .001

  

Bush walking

Metro

295

1.70

1.91

12.3

94.97

45.17

− 52.4

Non-metro

212

1.85

2.40

29.6

87.96

44.93

− 48.9

All

507

1.77

2.12

20.0

92.01

45.07

− 51.0

p values

  

Year < .001

     

Cricket

Metro

393

3.04

0.54

− 82.1

124.45

31.62

− 74.6

Non-metro

179

3.18

0.69

− 78.4

119.22

26.39

− 77.9

All

572

3.09

0.59

− 80.9

122.83

29.99

− 75.6

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Cycling

Metro

703

3.32

3.89

17.3

59.24

57.96

− 2.2

Non-metro

397

3.12

3.87

24.2

50.12

49.58

− 1.1

All

1100

3.25

3.89

19.7

55.94

54.93

− 1.8

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Region .012

  

Fitness/gym

Metro

1094

4.57

3.53

− 22.7

54.93

29.29

− 46.7

Non-metro

457

4.67

3.33

− 28.6

53.99

26.12

− 51.6

All

1551

4.60

3.47

− 24.5

54.65

28.36

− 48.1

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Football/soccer

Metro

1055

5.33

2.36

− 55.7

87.62

33.39

− 61.9

Non-metro

313

4.98

2.15

− 56.9

94.13

27.93

− 70.3

All

1368

5.25

2.31

− 56.0

89.11

32.14

− 63.9

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Region .001

  

Golf

Metro

1256

4.17

1.37

− 67.1

225.35

54.49

− 75.8

Non-metro

987

4.64

1.39

− 70.1

216.82

57.59

− 73.4

All

2243

4.38

1.38

− 68.5

221.60

55.85

− 74.8

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Netball

Metro

102

3.29

0.70

− 78.9

59.56

11.79

− 80.2

Non-metro

87

2.56

0.65

− 74.5

56.73

14.88

− 73.8

All

189

2.96

0.68

− 77.1

58.27

13.16

− 77.4

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Pilates

Metro

209

2.34

1.80

− 23.0

49.95

26.22

− 47.5

Non-metro

93

2.23

1.90

− 14.7

44.02

22.23

− 49.5

All

302

2.31

1.83

− 20.6

48.12

25.04

− 48.0

p values

  

Year .033

  

Year < .001 Region .044

  

Running/jogging

Metro

745

3.29

4.69

42.8

34.56

32.95

− 4.7

Non-metro

312

3.84

4.66

21.4

34.11

33.03

− 3.2

All

1057

3.45

4.68

35.8

34.43

32.98

− 4.2

p values

  

Year < .001

     

Swimming

Metro

732

5.22

1.04

− 80.0

69.50

13.81

− 80.1

Non-metro

373

5.44

1.13

− 79.2

66.85

12.92

− 80.7

All

1105

5.29

1.07

− 79.7

68.61

13.51

− 80.3

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Tennis

Metro

610

3.51

1.24

− 64.7

104.78

38.41

− 63.3

Non-metro

250

3.02

1.55

− 48.5

99.63

33.66

− 66.2

All

860

3.37

1.33

− 60.5

103.27

37.06

− 64.1

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Walking

Metro

1602

6.86

8.84

28.7

56.58

53.53

− 5.4

Non-metro

963

6.69

8.25

23.4

53.61

52.05

− 2.9

All

2565

6.80

8.62

26.8

55.47

52.97

− 4.5

p values

  

Year < .001

     

Yoga

Metro

186

2.30

2.83

23.3

42.45

27.34

− 35.6

Non-metro

122

3.38

4.02

18.9

40.54

24.68

− 39.1

All

308

2.72

3.30

21.2

41.69

26.31

− 36.9

p values

  

Year .007 Region < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Other activities7,8

Metro

747

2.65

1.42

− 46.4

77.45

27.48

− 64.5

Non-metro

418

3.38

2.13

− 36.9

88.09

33.70

− 61.7

All

1165

2.91

1.68

− 42.4

81.27

29.71

− 63.4

All activities8

Metro

11,303

4.37

3.06

− 30.1

91.09

37.56

− 58.8

Non-metro

5995

4.46

3.07

− 31.1

95.92

38.34

− 60.0

All

17,298

4.40

3.06

− 30.4

92.76

37.83

− 59.2

  1. 1Of the 6140 survey respondents 5371 answered the questions on sport and physical activities. They reported 19,205 instances of participation (i.e. a person reporting participation in a particular activity) in a total of 88 sports and physical activities—an average of 3.6 different activities per person. The 18 activities which each contributed at least 1% of all instances of participation are listed in this table
  2. 2The metropolitan region comprises the Greater Capital City Statistical Area of each Australian state and territory (Australian Bureau of Statistics ref). The non-metropolitan region comprises the remainder of Australia. Regions are defined on the basis of residential postcode
  3. 3Some respondents did not answer the frequency and duration questions or the postcode question, and so the total number of responses is 17,298 rather than 19,205. A few gave partial responses, and so the sample sizes for the four variables in this table are not exactly equal. The indicative sample sizes shown in the table are for the frequency before Covid
  4. 4Question wording for frequency: “Before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, in a usual two-week period during the season for each of these sports, how many times would you participate (including any training or practice)?”; “In the past two weeks, how many times have you participated in each of these sports (including any training or practice)?”
  5. 5Question wording for duration: “On average, how many minutes would each session last?”; “On average, how many minutes does each session last?”
  6. 6Only statistically significant p values (< .05) are shown in the table
  7. 7 ‘Other’ encompasses the 70 activities which each contributed less than 1% of all reported instances of participation
  8. 8No statistical significance tests were conducted for data aggregated across multiple activities because many respondents participated in more than one activity, violating the assumption of independent observations