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Accessing physical activity among young adults attending a university: the role of sex, race/ethnicity, technology use, and sleep

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, September 2017
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (77th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (61st percentile)

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1 policy source
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Citations

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34 Dimensions

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217 Mendeley
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Title
Accessing physical activity among young adults attending a university: the role of sex, race/ethnicity, technology use, and sleep
Published in
BMC Public Health, September 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12889-017-4757-y
Pubmed ID
Authors

Samuel D. Towne, Marcia G. Ory, Matthew Lee Smith, S. Camille Peres, Adam W. Pickens, Ranjana K. Mehta, Mark Benden

Abstract

Identifying factors associated with recommended physical activity (PA) levels are critical in efforts to combat the obesity epidemic and related comorbidities. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of college students (n = 490) enrolled in a large southern state university in October of 2014. Our aim was to identify sociodemographic characteristics, technology use, and sleep patterns among college students and their independent relationship to recommended PA. An online survey was sent to all enrolled students. Logistic regression predicted achieving recommended ≥150 min per week of moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) versus not (≤149 min MVPA). Approximately 69% of study participants were males, 18% were Hispanic, and more than half (60%) were within the normal body mass index (12% were obese). The average age of students was 21 years. On a daily average, individuals used smartphones most often (nearly 4.4 h), followed by laptops at 4.0 h, desktops at 1.2 h, and tablets at 0.6 h. The mean number of hours individuals reported sleeping was 6.7. Sociodemographic factors associated with reporting ≥150 min of MVPA included being male (OR = 4.0, 95% CI 2.2-7.1) versus female, being non-Hispanic White (OR = 1.8, CI 1.1-3.2) versus being a member of minority race group. Behavioral factors associated with reporting ≥150 min of MVPA included technology use (being moderate-heavy (OR = 2.3, CI 1.1-4.8) or heavy (OR = 3.4, CI 1.6-7.5) users of technology), and receiving low-moderate (OR = 1.9, 1.01-3.7) levels of sleep versus the lowest level of sleep. In the current study, minority status and being female were the strongest sociodemographic factors associated with inadequate PA levels, while high technology use (primarily driven by smartphone use) were associated with recommended PA levels. Identifying factors associated with being physically active will allow for targeted interventions to improve the health of young adults.

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The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 217 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 217 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 39 18%
Student > Master 30 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 23 11%
Researcher 10 5%
Professor 10 5%
Other 43 20%
Unknown 62 29%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 34 16%
Medicine and Dentistry 32 15%
Psychology 16 7%
Sports and Recreations 14 6%
Social Sciences 13 6%
Other 40 18%
Unknown 68 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 December 2022.
All research outputs
#4,204,966
of 23,613,071 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#4,658
of 15,328 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#72,835
of 319,139 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#56
of 142 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,613,071 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 82nd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 15,328 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.2. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 319,139 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 142 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.