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Table 3 Changes in self-reported frequency and duration of 18 popular forms of sport and physical activity1 from before Covid to during Covid: adults (aged 18 +) by gender

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

Activity

Gender2

n2,3

Frequency4 (Sessions per two weeks)

Duration5 (Minutes per session)

p values6

  

Mean before Covid

Mean during Covid

Change %

Mean before Covid

Mean during Covid

Change %

Australian football

Male

414

2.76

0.92

− 66.5

68.48

24.22

− 64.6

Female

87

2.49

0.46

− 81.6

63.38

14.94

− 76.4

All

502

2.71

0.84

− 68.9

67.60

22.57

− 66.6

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Basketball

Male

104

2.54

1.08

− 57.7

48.13

16.93

− 64.8

Female

76

2.16

0.91

− 58.0

44.41

9.34

− 79.0

All

180

2.38

1.01

− 57.8

46.56

13.80

− 70.4

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001 Gender .047

  

Bowls

Male

796

6.24

0.54

− 91.4

152.65

37.02

− 75.7

Female

288

5.90

0.33

− 94.4

171.07

37.01

− 78.4

All

1091

6.20

0.48

− 92.3

157.57

36.94

− 76.6

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .023

  

Boxing

Male

148

2.27

1.07

− 53.0

38.38

14.11

− 63.2

Female

49

1.64

3.09

87.8

31.70

18.24

− 42.5

All

198

2.11

1.55

− 26.5

36.56

14.98

− 59.0

p values

  

Year x Gender .03

  

Year < .001

  

Bush walking

Male

249

1.73

2.19

26.2

91.03

43.91

− 51.8

Female

249

1.80

2.09

15.7

93.80

46.46

− 50.5

All

500

1.76

2.13

20.9

92.48

45.13

− 51.2

p values

  

Year < .001

     

Cricket

Male

436

3.23

0.62

− 80.9

137.81

34.34

− 75.1

Female

44

1.95

0.64

− 67.1

88.05

6.59

− 92.5

All

481

3.11

0.62

− 80.1

133.00

31.68

− 76.2

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002

  

Cycling

Male

597

3.45

3.88

12.4

62.10

58.43

− 5.9

Female

313

3.02

3.48

15.2

50.28

51.70

2.8

All

913

3.30

3.74

13.3

57.96

56.07

− 3.3

p values

     

Gender .015

  

Fitness/Gym

Male

699

4.88

2.93

− 40.0

56.01

26.47

− 52.7

Female

601

4.23

3.21

− 24.2

54.32

26.35

− 51.5

All

1303

4.58

3.06

− 33.2

55.19

26.40

− 52.2

p values

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .003

  

Year < .001

  

Football/soccer

Male

608

4.70

1.43

− 69.6

90.34

26.54

− 70.6

Female

243

4.34

1.26

− 71.1

85.56

23.92

− 72.0

All

855

4.59

1.37

− 70.1

89.31

25.78

− 71.1

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Golf

Male

1518

4.30

1.45

− 66.3

219.61

58.77

− 73.2

Female

676

4.58

1.18

− 74.2

230.68

50.71

− 78.0

All

2199

4.39

1.36

− 69.0

223.04

56.27

− 74.8

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002

  

Pilates

Male

66

2.55

1.44

− 43.3

52.73

27.50

− 47.8

Female

232

2.22

1.95

− 12.3

46.63

24.02

− 48.5

All

298

2.29

1.84

− 19.8

47.96

24.80

− 48.3

p values

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .005

  

Year < .001 Gender .043

  

Running/jogging

Male

492

3.32

4.35

31.1

35.09

31.49

− 10.3

 

Female

293

3.04

4.71

54.6

35.29

34.43

− 2.4

 

All

789

3.22

4.48

39.3

35.23

32.68

− 7.2

p values

  

Year < .001

     

Swimming

Male

399

4.08

0.58

− 85.9

52.53

10.27

− 80.5

Female

393

4.54

1.16

− 74.5

64.91

11.35

− 82.5

All

796

4.32

0.87

− 79.9

58.63

10.80

− 81.6

p values

  

Year < .001 Gender .015

  

Year < .001 Gender .013

Year x Gender .006

  

Tennis

Male

403

3.42

1.58

− 53.9

104.27

41.70

− 60.0

Female

334

3.08

1.12

− 63.6

114.32

33.83

− 70.4

All

740

3.27

1.37

− 58.1

108.75

38.42

− 64.7

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002

  

Walking

Male

1303

7.12

8.68

21.9

54.03

51.68

− 4.4

Female

1045

6.61

8.86

34.1

59.97

56.38

− 6.0

All

2353

6.89

8.76

27.1

56.67

53.78

− 5.1

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Gender .006

  

Yoga

Male

74

3.09

3.23

4.4

34.47

21.34

− 38.1

Female

227

2.60

3.35

28.7

44.56

28.28

− 36.5

All

305

2.72

3.32

21.9

41.85

26.54

− 36.6

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Gender .001

  

Other activities 7,8

Male

520

2.74

1.26

− 53.9

86.22

30.78

− 64.3

Female

554

3.20

1.82

− 43.0

74.80

24.28

− 67.5

All

1079

3.01

1.55

− 48.6

80.13

27.39

− 65.8

All activities8

Male

8826

4.44

2.80

− 36.9

103.10

39.98

− 61.2

Female

5704

4.18

3.29

− 21.3

89.70

36.66

− 59.1

Other2

31

5.35

2.10

− 60.8

67.90

16.83

− 75.2

No response2

21

7.57

2.85

− 62.4

121.90

40.95

− 66.4

All

14,582

4.34

2.99

− 31.2

97.81

38.65

− 60.5

  1. 1Of the 4862 survey respondents identified by age as adult 4724 answered the questions on sport and physical activities. They reported 16,117 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 3.4 different activities per person. The 15 activities which each contributed at least 1% of all instances of participation are listed in this table
  2. 2Four gender response categories were provided: ‘Male’, ‘Female’, ‘Other’, and ‘Choose not to (abbreviated to ‘No response’ in the table). The ‘Other’ and ‘No response’ categories had counts, across all activities, of 31 and 21 respectively. The maximum count for an individual activity was 6. With such small sample sizes, the evidence base is small and the sampling variability is extremely large, and so for these categories the results for individual activities are not included in the table. For the aggregate results of all activities combined, results for all four gender categories are included
  3. 3Some respondents did not answer the frequency and duration questions, and so the total number of responses is 14,582 rather than 16,117. 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 73 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