ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2023
Gender differences in the distribution of children's physical activity: evidence from nine countries.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 124 citations in OpenAlex.
- Addressing insufficient physical activity in children with obesity in a 4-month physical activity on prescription intervention: a single-group pre-post study.BMC public health · 2026Trial
- Linking 23 physical activity intensity levels to health-related quality of life in 10-year-old children.BMC research notes · 2025Trial
- Effect of physical activity and multi-micronutrient supplementation on body composition among Tanzanian schoolchildren: secondary outcomes from the KaziAfya cluster-randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Effectiveness of the Walking in ScHools (WISH) Study, a peer-led walking intervention for adolescent girls: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Trial
- Central Adiposity Versus Body Mass Index in Assessment of Adiposity-Related Differences in Physical Activity Among Schoolchildren Aged 5-12 Years in High-Risk Neighborhoods.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Associations between physical activity and physical fitness in preschool children: gender and age differences.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Association between physical activity of different intensities and balance ability in preschool children: gender and age differences.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Review
- The Correlations between Spatial Equality and School Environment with Children's Physical Activity Levels: The Mediating Role of Motivation toward Physical Education.International journal of school health · 2026Article
- Gender-related perceptions among healthcare providers and mothers in a pregnancy and early childhood obesity prevention intervention in Shanghai, China.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Prospective association of device-based physical activity and sedentary time during childhood with mental health outcomes during adolescence.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Efficiencies in Physical Talent Identification Among Australian Adolescents: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Observational Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Regional, socioeconomic, and health determinants of physical fitness in school children: insights from a National Olympic Fitness Project.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- The associations between speed performance and health outcomes in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2026Review
- The association of social and school environments with moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity among school-aged children in south-central China: a mediation analysis.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Change and Tracking of Physical Fitness Among Children Aged 5-12 Years: A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Barriers to youth physical activity in urban green spaces: evidence from a Turkish city.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Sex differences in blood pressure and physical activity among socioeconomically vulnerable Portuguese schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 years: insights from the BeE-school Project.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Burden of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and its risk factors among young and middle-aged adults in primary care clinics of Karachi, Pakistan.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPhysical activity in childhood is thought to influences health and development. Previous studies have found that boys are typically more active than girls, yet the focus has largely been on differences in average levels or proportions above a threshold rather than the full distribution of activity across all intensities. We thus examined differences in the distribution of physical activity between girls and boys in a multi-national sample of children.
methodsWe used the harmonised International Children Accelerometry Database (ICAD), including waist-worn accelerometry data from 15,461 individuals (Boys: 48.3%) from 9 countries. Employing Generalised Additive Models of Location, Shape, and Scale (GAMLSS) we investigated gender differences in the distribution of individuals, including comparisons of variability (SD) and average physical activity levels (mean and median) and skewness. We conducted this analysis for each activity intensity (Sedentary, Light, and Moderate-to-Vigorous (MVPA)) and a summary measure (counts per minute (CPM)).
resultsSizable gender differences in the distribution of activity were found for moderate to vigorous activity and counts per minute, with boys having higher average levels (38% higher mean volumes of MVPA, 20% higher CPM), yet substantially more between-person variability (30% higher standard deviation (SD) for MVPA, 17% higher SD for CPM); boys' distributions were less positively skewed than girls. Conversely, there was little to no difference between girls and boys in the distribution of sedentary or light-intensity activity.
conclusionsInequality in activity between girls and boys was driven by MVPA. The higher mean volumes of MVPA in boys occurred alongside greater variability. This suggests a need to consider the underlying distribution of activity in future research; for example, interventions which target gender inequality in MVPA may inadvertently lead to increased inequality within girls.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.