Typologies of 24-hour movement behaviours over school and weekend days in children and adolescents

Background: Growing evidence highlights the significance of 24-hour movement behaviours (MB) in promoting the health of children and adolescents. However, limited research has focused on understanding how MB group together and how the behaviours change over the week.

Purpose: This study examined transitions of 24-hour MB typologies between school and weekend days.
Methods: A sample of 338 children and adolescents (aged 11–18 years) participated in a 7-day assessment of 24-hour MB using wrist-worn accelerometers. Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity (LPA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and sleep were assessed and used to identify typologies. MB typologies and their transitions were identified utilising compositional data analysis and latent transition analysis.

Results: Three distinct typologies were identified across weekdays and weekends. The typologies were labelled as Active (69.6 min of MVPA, 303.4 min of LPA, 561.9 min of SB, 507.7 min of sleep), Average (39.4 min of MVPA, 257.6 min of LPA, 676.6 min of SB, 470.2 min of sleep), Inactive (25.4 min of MVPA, 220.8 min of LPA, 711.0 min of SB, 486.7 min of sleep). Active (Schooldays: 40.9%; Weekend: 40.8%;) and Inactive (Schooldays: 6.4%; Weekend: 24.6%) typologies remained stable over the week, however almost 18% of individuals from Average (Schooldays: 52.7%; Weekend: 34.7%) transitioned to the Inactive typology.

Conclusions: Our study emphasizes the stability of certain MB patterns across school and weekend days. The transition of individuals from the Average to Inactive typology underscores the need for targeted interventions to promote PA and reduce SB among children and adolescents.

Practical implications: Focus on maintaining healthy MB habits during the whole week could positively impact the overall health of children and adolescents.

Funding: This contribution was supported by the grant agency at Palacký University Olomouc (reg. no. IGA_FTK_2024_008).