Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Exercise Science

First Advisor

Bridget Armstrong

Abstract

Twenty-four hour movement behaviors (i.e., physical activity (PA), screen time (ST), and sleep) are associated with health outcomes, chronic disease (obesity, type 2 diabetes), and mortality. Most literature evaluating children’s 24-hour movement behaviors has focused on static person-level demographic information such as age or biological sex. Relatively less work has examined the variable factors that change day to day, such as environment or context. The Structured Days Hypothesis (SDH) suggests that when children are in structured environments, they have healthier movement behaviors compared to less structured environments where children have more discretionary time to engage in obesogenic behaviors. Besides school/childcare, out-of-school programs are the most common form of structured environments for children. According to the America After 3PM, children from low-income households are less likely to attend out-of-school programs, and one of the primary barriers to attend out-of-school programs is the cost. Therefore, the relationship between income and 24-hour movement behaviors may be explained, at least partially, by time spent in out-of-school programs.

Furthermore, our understanding of 24-hour movement behaviors in children is limited to person-level correlates which does little to provide information about a child’s movement behaviors on any given day. Previous research has relied on aggregated data rather than examining the natural variability in 24-hour movement behaviors and subsequent related factors at the day-level. Using aggregated data assumes that all days are homogeneous; however, we know that children’s activities and behaviors are variable across days.

Examining the day-level variability of contextual factors (i.e., childcare and out-of-school programs) may be able to shed light on potential mechanisms influencing children’s 24-hour movement behaviors more directly. This information will inform intervention strategies aimed to leverage already-existing programs to improve children’s 24-hour movement behaviors. The purpose of this dissertation is to use the SDH to examine the relationship between daily participation in out-of-school programs and children’s 24-hour movement behaviors, and to examine how structure may be mediating the relationship between household income and children’s 24-hour movement behaviors.

Rights

© 2025, Hannah Parker

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