Analysis of out-of-school sports practice in Spanish children aged 6 to 12 years old

Abstract

Background: The change of habits in the occupation of young people?s leisure time in the Spanish society has led to an increase in sedentary activities, as opposed to physical and sporting activities outside the school context. The occupation of leisure time in motor activities not only favours health, as indicated by important institutions, such as the World Health Organisation, but they are also fundamental for motor, psychological, social, and affective development. Aim: The main objective of this research is to analyse the levels of extracurricular sports practice on a sample of Spanish children. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study was carried out. An ad hoc validated questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: The results obtained show that a large part of the infant-juvenile population (71.6%) participates in federated sport; however, the average number of days spent practicing sports does not exceed 3.37 days. Differences in participation were found in terms of gender, with a predominance of team activities in the case of boys and individual activities in the case of girls. A 22.5% overweight and obesity rate was also found, with higher values in boys. Conclusion: The levels of extracurricular sport practice are higher in boys than in girls, with differences also found in the type of sport practised in relation to gender, with football being more predominant in boys and basketball and gymnastics in girls.