Research Impact: There have been various restrictions across the world at the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Finland, there were similar restrictions to Ireland, such that schools, sport clubs and facilities were closed and restrictions on being outside. In this paper, we report the perceived changes in physical activity due to the restrictions, otherwise known as lockdown, sport club participation, and frequency of physical activity of 2408 Finnish adolescents aged between 16-19y enrolled in general upper secondary schools, through a national representative sample. A split survey design was used to collect data and make inferences on the correlates for physical activity behaviours during the lockdown. In short, although sport club participation was protective of high physical activity levels, individuals perceived their levels were reduced during lockdown. There were some individuals that perceived their levels increased, particularly among individuals who had low levels of PA, supporting previous findings from Ireland (https://pess.blog/2020/11/04/publication-barriers-and-facilitators-to-changes-in-physical-activity-among-irish-adolescents/) that lockdown offered new opportunities for individuals to be physically active. In addition to increasing our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on physical activity levels, the findings of the results are important for measuring secular trends on physical activity among this age group, as few studies have focused on adolescents of this age range.
Ng, K., Koski, P., Lyyra, N., Palomaki, S., Mononen, K., Blomqvist, M., Vasankari, T. and Kokko, S., 2021. Finnish Late Adolescents’ Physical Activity During COVID-19 Spring 2020 Lockdown. BMC Public Health 21, 2197 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12263-w
PESS News & Information 