Sedentary time of university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk groups and pre-pandemic predictors using cross-sectional and longitudinal data

Sebastian Heller; Kristin Kalo; Antonia M Werner; Laura Eisenbarth; Jennifer L Reichel; Lina M Mülder; Markus Schäfer; Stephan Letzel; Perikles Simon; Thomas Rigotti; Pavel Dietz

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1138442

Sedentary time of university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk groups and pre-pandemic predictors using cross-sectional and longitudinal data

Front Public Health. 2023 Apr 5:11:1138442. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1138442. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, University Medical Center of the University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
² Department of Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disease Prevention, Institute of Sport Science, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
³ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
⁴ Department of Work, Organizational, and Business Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
⁵ Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
⁶ Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Mainz, Germany.

Abstract

Background: The present study aimed to (1) assess and compare sedentary time (ST) of university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) examine risk groups with regard to ST and the "extent of change" in ST (from before to during the pandemic) in association with sociodemographic (gender, age), study-related (degree aspired to, field of study, semester), and pre-pandemic physical health-related [pre-pandemic physical activity (PA) and ST levels, pre-pandemic BMI class] variables, and (3) investigate whether the change in ST was predicted by these variables.

Methods: Two online surveys were conducted among students at the University of Mainz, Germany-the first in 2019 (before the pandemic) and the second in 2020 (during the pandemic). Participants of both surveys were included in a longitudinal sample. With the longitudinal sample's data, paired t-tests, single factor, and mixed analyses of variances were used to examine group differences in ST and the "extent of change" in ST. A linear regression analysis was computed to investigate the influence of the abovementioned sociodemographic, study-related, and pre-pandemic physical health-related variables on the change in ST.

Results: Of the N = 4,351 (pre-pandemic) and N = 3,066 (in-pandemic) participants of the online surveys, N = 443 entered the longitudinal sample. ST increased by 1.4 h/day to critical levels (≥8 h/day) in all subgroups analyzed-even among students who were highly physically active before the pandemic. Students with a low pre-pandemic ST had the largest increase in ST. Pre-pandemic PA level negatively predicted the change in ST.

Conclusion: Even during a global pandemic lockdown, individuals who were previously more physically active and had less ST showed more health-promoting behavior in terms of ST. Therefore, it can be stated that efforts to promote PA and reduce ST are always valuable. Since ST increased and was worryingly high in all subgroups analyzed, all university students should be targeted by multidimensional approaches to tackle ST and promote their health.

Keywords: epidemiology; health behavior; health promoting setting; higher education; sitting.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Communicable Disease Control
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Pandemics
Sedentary Behavior
Students
Universities

Grants and funding

This research was derived from the project Healthy Campus Mainz, which is funded by BARMER health insurance, Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz, and the University Medical Center of JGU Mainz.