Frontiers in public health
Associations of social avoidance and sport engagement with physical health indicators among schoolchildren: a cross-sectional study
By Li Y.
Abstract
Background
This study examined cross-sectional associations of social avoidance with sport engagement and of sport engagement with physical health indicators among schoolchildren. Potential nonlinear associations were also assessed. Exploratory latent profile analysis (LPA) examined whether cognitive, affective, and relational engagement provided information beyond the continuous total engagement score.
Methods
This cross-sectional study included 923 students in Grades 3-5 from one Beijing school. Questionnaires assessed social avoidance and sport engagement across sport settings. Routine school records provided physical fitness, height, and weight, from which a BMI-excluded physical fitness score was calculated. Classroom-clustered linear and logistic regression models examined associations of social avoidance with total sport engagement and of sport engagement with BMI-excluded physical fitness, BMI, and overweight/obesity. Models adjusted for sex, grade, school-based sport participation, and out-of-school sport participation. Holm correction was applied to four focal associations and four corresponding quadratic tests. LPA was exploratory and accounted for classroom clustering.
