Table 1.
Description, descriptive characteristics, and differences between primary and secondary schools for school questionnaire-based data collected
| Variable | Assessment | Primary schools | Secondary schools | P for difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion/mean (SD) | Proportion/mean (SD) | |||
| Length of break (minutes per day) | Morning break, lunch break (and any other breaks, e.g., pm) duration added to obtain total break time. | 75.21 (8.28) | 65.70 (10.67) | .000** |
| Number of sports facilities (medium/high quality) |
Reported access to nine sport related facilities (e.g., gym, swimming pool etc.). Those rated as high or radium quality were summed. | 5.30 (1.30) | 6.35 (1.09) | .027* |
| Hours of PE (per week) | Reported and rounded to the nearest ½ hour. | 2.09 (.36) | 2.24 (.412) | .241 |
| Physical activity policy (% yes) | “Does your school have a policy to promote physical activity” (written or informal) | 84.8 | 79.1 | .464 |
| Lunchtime extra-curricular physical activity provision (% yes) | “Does your school provide any extracurricular physical activity during lunch breaks?” | 62 | 88.1 | .005* |
| School attitude (to physical activity promotion) | Reported agreement with five statements about school attitude to physical activity (5-point Likert scale). Scores were summed and averaged. | 4.44 (.92) | 4.39 (.69) | .749 |
| Compulsory outdoor break, if weather allows it (% yes) | Choosing one of five options reflecting outdoor policy during break times. The answers were collapsed into a dichotomous category. | 96.7 | 27.9 | .000** |
| Activity rules during breaks: | Report of whether children are allowed to do screen-based activity (e.g., watch TV or use computers) regardless of weather. | 8.7 | 74.4 | .000** |
| - Screen-based activity allowed (% yes) | ||||
| -Physically-active activities allowed (% ≥ 2) | Report of whether children are allowed to do physically active activities (e.g., use sports equipment, play ball games, play running games etc.) regardless of the weather | 52.2 | 65 | .194 |
| School Environment (physical environment) | Reported agreement with seven statements about the area around the school (5-point Likert scale). Scores were summed (possible score 0–35) | 22.01 (3.96) | 24.91 (3.34) | .001* |
PA physical activity, SD Standard deviation; * = p < .005; ** = p < .001