Table 1.
Children's Neighborhood Safety, BMI, Physical Activity, and Television-Viewing Characteristics, by Grade, United States, 1999–2007
| Kindergarten (n = 18,900) |
First Grade (n = 15,350) |
Third Grade (n = 13,330) |
Fifth Grade (n = 10,950) |
Eighth Grade (n = 8,300) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | |
| Neighborhood safety | ||||||||||
| Parents report neighborhood as somewhat or not at all safe for children to play outside in | 30.2 | 26.9 | 23.4 | 23.6 | 20.0 | |||||
| Physical activity and sedentary behavior | ||||||||||
| Reported days of vigorous physical activity per week | 3.9 (2.3) | NA | 3.9 (2.0) | 3.7 (1.9) | 4.6 (2.0) | |||||
| Reported hours of television- watching per week | 14.1 (8.3) | 13.4 (9.1) | 13.5 (8.9) | 14.4 (8.7) | 23.2 (19.2) | |||||
| Children's body mass | ||||||||||
| Obesity | 11.6 | 13.1 | 18.6 | 20.3 | 17.6 | |||||
| BMI percentile | 61.0 (28.6) | 61.3 (28.9) | 64.6 (29.1) | 65.4 (29.9) | 64.4 (28.7) | |||||
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; NA, not available; SD, standard deviation.