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Table 6 Changes in self-reported frequency and duration of 18 popular forms of sport and physical activity1 from before Covid to during Covid: adolescents (aged 13–17) 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

59

2.15

1.68

− 21.8

45.38

28.06

− 38.2

Non-metro

17

7.59

1.71

− 77.5

42.94

12.81

− 70.2

All

76

3.37

1.69

− 49.9

44.83

24.57

− 45.2

p values

  

Year .018

  

Year < .001

  

Australian football

Metro

61

2.56

1.71

− 33.1

58.05

24.48

− 57.8

Non-metro

33

3.12

0.64

− 79.6

68.45

12.42

− 81.9

All

94

2.76

1.33

− 51.9

61.78

20.11

− 67.5

p values

  

Year < .001

Year x Region .023

  

Year < .001

  

Basketball

Metro

109

3.24

3.58

10.7

45.21

25.35

− 43.9

Non-metro

37

3.11

2.00

− 35.7

47.50

21.43

− 54.9

All

146

3.21

3.17

− 1.2

45.78

24.36

− 46.8

p values

  

–

  

Year < .001

  

Cricket

Metro

58

2.88

0.54

− 81.1

71.58

21.23

− 70.3

Non-metro

29

2.97

0.07

− 97.7

60.34

8.70

− 85.6

All

87

2.91

0.38

− 86.8

67.79

17.00

− 74.9

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Cycling

Metro

116

2.77

4.52

63.3

50.57

53.94

6.7

Non-metro

53

3.06

4.92

61.1

37.31

43.04

15.4

All

169

2.86

4.64

62.5

46.44

50.55

8.8

p values

  

Year < .001

  

–

  

Dancing

Metro

18

4.17

5.00

20.0

46.25

41.50

− 10.3

Non-metro

9

5.67

4.78

− 15.7

58.33

38.89

− 33.3

All

27

4.67

4.92

5.4

50.60

40.56

− 19.8

p values

  

–

  

–

  

Fitness/gym

Metro

170

4.50

5.98

32.9

53.53

40.37

− 24.6

Non-metro

67

4.84

5.30

9.6

47.79

32.84

− 31.3

All

237

4.59

5.79

25.9

51.88

38.25

− 26.3

p values

  

–

  

Year < .001

  

Football/soccer

Metro

373

6.68

4.08

− 38.8

88.39

45.92

− 48.0

Non-metro

124

5.57

3.33

− 40.2

90.52

34.59

− 61.8

All

497

6.40

3.89

− 39.2

88.93

43.10

− 51.5

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Region .031

  

Golf

Metro

25

2.52

2.54

0.9

110.83

29.17

− 73.7

Non-metro

7

3.00

0.67

− 77.8

107.14

22.86

− 78.7

All

32

2.63

2.17

− 17.5

110.00

27.74

− 74.8

p values

  

–

  

Year < .001

  

Netball

Metro

34

2.65

0.41

− 84.4

64.47

7.73

− 88.0

Non-metro

34

3.29

1.03

− 68.8

64.26

27.50

− 57.2

All

68

2.97

0.72

− 75.7

64.37

17.46

− 72.9

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Running/jogging

Metro

180

3.94

5.60

41.9

35.09

36.21

3.2

Non-metro

74

4.45

4.68

5.3

25.44

29.79

17.1

All

254

4.09

5.33

30.3

32.26

34.33

6.4

p values

  

–

  

–

  

Skating/scootering

Metro

24

3.79

3.36

− 11.3

39.17

38.18

− 2.5

Non-metro

12

2.50

1.58

− 36.7

43.33

22.50

− 48.1

All

36

3.36

2.74

− 18.6

40.56

32.65

− 19.5

p values

  

–

  

–

  

Surf lifesaving

Metro

26

2.77

0.48

− 82.7

86.54

13.48

− 84.4

Non-metro

6

0.67

0.17

− 75.0

170.00

36.00

− 78.8

All

32

2.38

0.42

− 82.3

102.19

17.50

− 82.9

p values

  

Year .011

  

Year .001

  

Swimming

Metro

204

7.69

1.43

− 81.5

96.61

19.77

− 79.5

Non-metro

90

8.22

2.08

− 74.7

91.49

20.60

− 77.5

All

294

7.86

1.63

− 79.3

95.04

20.02

− 78.9

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Tennis

Metro

76

4.18

0.68

− 83.7

65.21

27.82

− 57.3

Non-metro

37

3.62

1.84

− 49.3

73.92

27.27

− 63.1

All

113

4.00

1.08

− 72.9

68.19

27.64

− 59.5

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

  

Volleyball

Metro

19

1.53

0.00

− 100.0

34.47

16.94

− 50.8

Non-metro

7

1.71

0.00

− 100.0

68.57

0.00

− 100.0

All

26

1.58

0.00

− 100.0

43.65

12.20

− 72.1

p values

  

Year < .001

  

Year < .001

Year x Region .005

  

Walking

Metro

128

6.15

7.54

22.6

42.58

43.45

2.0

Non-metro

65

4.51

5.62

24.6

36.69

41.92

14.3

All

193

5.60

6.88

22.9

40.58

42.92

5.8

p values

  

Year .035

  

Year .028 Region .036

  

Other activities6,7

Metro

98

2.18

1.45

− 33.7

71.74

27.67

− 61.4

Non-metro

62

4.65

3.70

− 20.4

84.18

46.67

− 44.6

All

160

3.14

2.32

− 26.0

76.55

34.79

− 54.6

All activities7

Metro

1778

4.72

3.61

− 23.5

65.54

34.79

− 46.9

Non-metro

763

4.75

3.21

− 32.4

64.06

30.16

− 52.9

All

2541

4.73

3.49

− 26.2

65.10

33.40

− 48.7

  1. 1Of the 584 survey respondents identified by age as adolescent, 580 answered the questions on sport and physical activities. They reported 2822 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 4.9 different activities per person. The 17 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, and so the total number of responses is 2541 rather than 2822. 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 2-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. 6‘Other’ encompasses the 71 activities which each contributed less than 1% of all reported instances of participation
  7. 7No 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
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BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation

ISSN: 2052-1847

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