Changes in Peer Friendships and Physical Activity among Children across School-Grade Transition
Abstract
Children’s physical activity (PA) may be affected by transitioning school grade; however, limited evidence exists on the associations between aspects of children’s peer friendships and their PA over the transition to a new school year. This thesis addressed this gap by examining whether or not associations between children’s peer friendships; including, popularity, number of sent friendship nominations, and friend’s average PA were associated with individual PA pre-, post- and over the transition to a higher school grade. We found that sent friendships and friends’ average PA were positively associated with an individual’s PA pre- and post-transition, and that changes in friendships did not directly correspond with PA changes over the transition. We did not identify differences according to sex. Future studies should employ social network analysis and longitudinal study designs to further examine these relationships. School-based interventions that promote friendly interactions among peers while simultaneously increasing PA are recommended.
Description
Keywords
Public Health, Psychology--Behavioral
Citation
Swanson, K. C. (2016). Changes in Peer Friendships and Physical Activity among Children across School-Grade Transition (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25249