The health benefits of physically active living during adolescence include increased cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness and improved cardiometabolic health, weight status, and quality of life [1]. Research indicates that some health benefits might be carried forward into adulthood, particularly benefits related to bone health and cancer prevention [2]. In this regard, physical activity (PA) performed during adolescence somehow determines the PA performed in adult life [3,4]. This fact would suggest the necessity of promoting active lifestyles early in life [5]. Because of the unique benefits for tackling non-communicable diseases, World Health Organization member states endorsed the Global Action Plan on PA, agreeing to reduce the physical inactivity prevalence for both adolescences and adults by 15% with respect to their baseline levels by 2030 [6].
Despite the well-known health benefits of physical activity, the prevalence of physical inactivity has remained stable during the last decade for both adolescents [7] and adults [8]. In this regard, previous studies have reported low levels of PA and scarce improvements in the last years for adolescents in general [9], and particularly for Spanish youngsters [10]. Considering all this, and with the current trends in mind, the 15% relative reduction in physical inactivity will possibly not be met by 2030 [7,8]. On top of this lack of change, gender differences are significant, with higher prevalence in girls and women in comparison to boys and men during these ages [10].
From adolescence to adulthood, previous studies have reported that there is a progressive reduction in the total PA performed [11,12,13]. This change in PA performed from late adolescence to adulthood is a consequence of the intense social shift in which significant life events happen [14]. In this regard, there is a concomitant transition from structured sport to non-organized PA that may modify total PA levels, potentially affecting social and psychological health, particularly in young women [15]. In this regard, it is possible that the age-related changes of the total PA performed depend on the gender, since it has been previously reported that women have an early intellectual maturity and different paternal and social pressures [16], which may affect lifestyle decisions, such as sports participation and particular use of leisure time activities [17]. Previous studies have reported reductions in the total PA performed by age for whole samples [11,12,13] and for both men and women separately, depicting greater decreases in the former [18]. In older age, young adult men keep being more active than young women [18]. This difference was also found in a Spanish sample, reporting reductions with age, but with more extended reductions in men than women. After a year, more total PA was still performed by men [19].
A particular drawback of the typical analysis of the prevalence of physical inactivity between adolescents and adults is that they have different physical activity recommendations by international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) (i.e., adolescents: 60 daily minutes of physical activity; adults: 75 weekly minutes of vigorous activity, 150 weekly minutes of moderate activity, or an equivalent quantity between both) [20]. A naive interpretation of the comparison of the prevalence of physical activity would presume that while most youngsters are physically inactive during adolescence, only about one-third of the adults are so [21]. One would reckon that adolescents are less physically active than their adult counterparts, which is untrue according to the consistently observed age-related decline in total self-reported physical activity [11,12,13].
Thus, an analysis helping to understand how the PA behaves considering the gender from adolescence to young adulthood is paramount in realizing the noticeable periods in which reductions occur in girls and young women as a consequence of changes in lifestyle decisions related to academic responsibilities and leisure time. As a consequence of these lifestyle decisions, it is possible that girls and young women reduce their PA levels at a different age and pace in adolescence and young adulthood in comparison to boys.
If changes in total PA depend on gender, particular actions should be implemented at different ages considering the gender of the young population, and should be tailored to obtain an effective policy while reducing the physical inactivity levels during adulthood. At the same time, PA should be promoted for all ages, also considering that requirements in childhood and adolescence are more demanding regarding the total time of PA in comparison with adulthood.
Therefore, this study aims to describe the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) performed, considering the gender, in a sample of the Spanish population from adolescence to young adulthood between 15 and 24 years old. We hypothesized that MVPA would decline with age over the transition from adolescence to young adulthood at different paces and different ages. In this regard, the reduction would be greater in men than in women, but the MVPA performed would still be higher in men in comparison to women at older ages.
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2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
A sample of young Spanish women and men between 15 and 24 years were surveyed between September and December of 2018 regarding their physical activity levels (n = 8372). The sampling was carried out using a simple random method with a quota system (95% confidence intervals and maximum variability [P = Q = 0.5]) in which age, gender, socio-economic status, and geographic distribution based on population size and density were considered. All questionnaires were conducted in person with the help of a computer in their secondary school, university, or technical college classes, or at their work offices.
2.2. Methods
The short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to determine the MVPA performed by those surveyed [22]. The IPAQ estimates the intensity, frequency, and duration of the PA performed in the last seven days. This information was obtained by inquiring about the days of practicing vigorous and moderate PA and walking activity, as well as their respective times in minutes during those particular days. Only MVPA was considered. As IPAQ asks for the last seven days, the averaged total MVPA for every day was calculated. Only individuals responding to one valid intensity and duration of a particular intensity (i.e., both variables with an answer different from “do not know”) were considered for further analysis [23]. A final sample of n = 7827 was considered (boys/young adult men: n = 3337; 42.6%). The MVPA was considered by summing the total minutes of PA performed at vigorous and moderate intensities.
2.3. Statistical Analysis
To ensure data robustness, the analysis was performed by merging every two ages (e.g., 15 and 16, 17 and 18, and so on). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was implemented, considering the age group (i.e., 15–16, 17–18, 19–20, 21–22, 23–24) and the gender of the surveyed people (boys/young adult men, girls/young adult women) to compare the daily MVPA (in minutes) as the dependent variable. Pairwise comparisons were performed using unpaired t-tests with Bonferroni correction. Data are represented as means with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The a priori alpha level was set at 0.05. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS 19.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).
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3. Results
The analysis of MVPA/day showed the main effects for age (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.08), and an interaction between age and gender (p < 0.001). Descriptively, the main effect of age showed reductions in the MPVA/day performed. Post hoc analysis showed a reduction in MVPA/day for younger ages but not for older ages. Data considering age can be observed in Table 1. In addition, analyzing the main effect of gender, women performed slightly less MVPA/day in comparison to men (men: 46.6 min/day; women: 43.1 min/day).
Table 1. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (in minutes/day) of ages 15–24 in a sample of Spanish adolescents and young adults (n = 7827).
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