Adolescence is characterized by more sedentary behaviour and less physical activity even among highly active forager-farmers

Abstract

Over 80% of adolescents worldwide are insufficiently active, posing massive public health and economic challenges. Declining physical activity (PA) and sex differences in PA consistently accompany transitions from childhood to adulthood in post-industrialized populations and are attributed to psychosocial and environmental factors. An overarching evolutionary theoretical framework and data from pre-industrialized populations are lacking. This cross-sectional study tests hypotheses from life history theory, that adolescent PA is inversely related to age, but this association is mediated by Tanner stage, reflecting higher and sex-specific energetic demands for growth and reproductive maturation. Detailed measures of PA and pubertal maturation are assessed among Tsimane forager-farmers (age: 7–22 years; 50% female, n = 110). Most Tsimane sampled (71%) meet World Health Organization PA guidelines (greater than or equal to 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous PA). Like post-industrialized populations, sex differences and inverse age-activity associations were observed. Tanner stage significantly mediated age-activity associations. Adolescence presents difficulties to PA engagement that warrant further consideration in PA intervention approaches to improve public health.

Reference

Ann E. Caldwell, Daniel Cummings, Paul L. Hooper, Benjamin C. Trumble, Michael Gurven, Jonathan Stieglitz, Helen Davis, and Hillard Kaplan, “Adolescence is characterized by more sedentary behaviour and less physical activity even among highly active forager-farmers”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 290, n. 2010, November 2023.