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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1488153

Adolescent physical activity during school days: A comparative study before and after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions

Provisionally accepted
Karel Frömel Karel Frömel 1,2Greg Welk Greg Welk 3Dorota Groffik Dorota Groffik 2Lukáš Jakubec Lukáš Jakubec 1Jan Dygryn Jan Dygryn 1Josef Mitáš Josef Mitáš 1*
  • 1 Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia
  • 2 Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
  • 3 Department of Kinesiology, College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Physical activity (PA) during the school day is crucial for the health and well-being of adolescents. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth PA patterns to better understand these changes and to provide guidelines for school programming.Methods: Differences in PA within specific segments of the school day were examined before and after the pandemic using the Youth Activity Profile questionnaire. Participants included 956 boys and 1317 girls from 21 high schools. The study involved 12 Czech and 9 Polish high schools before the pandemic and 9 Czech and 8 Polish high schools after the pandemic.Results: Both Czech and Polish boys and girls exhibited significantly less transportation PA to and from school and reduced PA during the school day after the pandemic compared to before. Additionally, Czech and Polish boys were significantly less physically active during school breaks, and Czech boys and girls had notably less PA during physical education lessons. The pandemic disrupted the habit of regular PA on school days, particularly evident in the decline of PA to and from school.The study confirms a significant difference in PA of Czech and Polish adolescents in various segments of the school day after students return to school following pandemic restrictions. Promoting achievement of the recommendations in the segments of the school day and in comprehensive school PA programs should be an important part of school health and education policy and public health promotion for adolescents.

    Keywords: Physical activity recommendation, active transport, School day, Education policy, COVID-19

    Received: 29 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Frömel, Welk, Groffik, Jakubec, Dygryn and Mitáš. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Josef Mitáš, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.