Associations between Intersecting Sociodemographic Characteristics and Device-Measured Physical Activity among Children and Adolescents living in the United States

Background: Research has shown that sociodemographic characteristics explain some of the disparities in physical activity among children and adolescents, yet potential interactions between these characteristics have received limited attention. This study explored the intersectionality of gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, and household income in relation to device-measured physical activity volume and intensity in a nationally representative sample of US children and adolescents. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from three cycles of the US National Health and Nutrition Survey (2011-2012; 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey; 2013-2014). A total of 6,116 participants (49% female; weighted N=50,304,823) between 3 to 17 years of age wore an accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist for 7 days. Monitor-independent movement summary units were used to represent physical activity volume and intensity. A Social Jeopardy Index was created to represent increasing levels of intersecting social disadvantages based on combinations of gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, and household income-to-poverty ratio tertiles. Generalized linear regression models 39were computed. Results: The results showed social disadvantages become increasingly evident among children and 41adolescents during the most intense minutes of daily physical activity (B=-48.69 ± 9.94 SE, p < 42.001), but disparities in total volume were not observed(B=34.01 ± 44.96 SE, p = 0.45). Conclusions: Collectively, our findings suggest patterns of physical activity engagement may differ based on sociodemographic characteristics –socially disadvantaged children and adolescents appear to accumulate activity at lighter intensities. Collecting contextual information about device-measured physical activity behavior represents an important next step for gaining insight into these sociodemographic differences.