Compensation of overall physical activity in (pre)adolescent girls – the CReActivity project

Abstract

According to the ActivityStat hypothesis more physical activity (PA) in one timespan is compensated by increased sedentary time (ST) in the following timespan and vice versa to maintain an overall stable PA level. Until now, existing literature revealed inconsistent results regarding compensatory behaviour across children and adolescents. Thus, the aim of the present study is (1) to investigate whether ST in the morning is compensated by active behaviour in the afternoon and (2) whether ST during the week is compensated by active behaviour during the weekend in (pre)adolescent girls. Additionally, we aimed to differentiate between positive and negative compensatory behaviour and examine whether it is moderated by socioeconomic status (SES), age or weight status.