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. 2022 Mar 21;14:42. doi: 10.1186/s13102-022-00435-z

Table 3.

Changes in self-reported frequency and duration of 18 popular forms of sport and physical activity1 from before Covid to during Covid: adults (aged 18 +) by gender

Activity Gender2 n2,3 Frequency4 (Sessions per two weeks) Duration5 (Minutes per session)
p values6 Mean before Covid Mean during Covid Change % Mean before Covid Mean during Covid Change %
Australian football Male 414 2.76 0.92 − 66.5 68.48 24.22 − 64.6
Female 87 2.49 0.46 − 81.6 63.38 14.94 − 76.4
All 502 2.71 0.84 − 68.9 67.60 22.57 − 66.6
p values Year < .001 Year < .001
Basketball Male 104 2.54 1.08 − 57.7 48.13 16.93 − 64.8
Female 76 2.16 0.91 − 58.0 44.41 9.34 − 79.0
All 180 2.38 1.01 − 57.8 46.56 13.80 − 70.4
p values Year < .001 Year < .001 Gender .047
Bowls Male 796 6.24 0.54 − 91.4 152.65 37.02 − 75.7
Female 288 5.90 0.33 − 94.4 171.07 37.01 − 78.4
All 1091 6.20 0.48 − 92.3 157.57 36.94 − 76.6
p values Year < .001

Year < .001

Year x Gender .023
Boxing Male 148 2.27 1.07 − 53.0 38.38 14.11 − 63.2
Female 49 1.64 3.09 87.8 31.70 18.24 − 42.5
All 198 2.11 1.55 − 26.5 36.56 14.98 − 59.0
p values Year x Gender .03 Year < .001
Bush walking Male 249 1.73 2.19 26.2 91.03 43.91 − 51.8
Female 249 1.80 2.09 15.7 93.80 46.46 − 50.5
All 500 1.76 2.13 20.9 92.48 45.13 − 51.2
p values Year < .001
Cricket Male 436 3.23 0.62 − 80.9 137.81 34.34 − 75.1
Female 44 1.95 0.64 − 67.1 88.05 6.59 − 92.5
All 481 3.11 0.62 − 80.1 133.00 31.68 − 76.2
p values Year < .001

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002
Cycling Male 597 3.45 3.88 12.4 62.10 58.43 − 5.9
Female 313 3.02 3.48 15.2 50.28 51.70 2.8
All 913 3.30 3.74 13.3 57.96 56.07 − 3.3
p values Gender .015
Fitness/Gym Male 699 4.88 2.93 − 40.0 56.01 26.47 − 52.7
Female 601 4.23 3.21 − 24.2 54.32 26.35 − 51.5
All 1303 4.58 3.06 − 33.2 55.19 26.40 − 52.2
p values

Year < .001

Year x Gender .003

 Year < .001
Football/soccer Male 608 4.70 1.43 − 69.6 90.34 26.54 − 70.6
Female 243 4.34 1.26 − 71.1 85.56 23.92 − 72.0
All 855 4.59 1.37 − 70.1 89.31 25.78 − 71.1
p values Year < .001 Year < .001
Golf Male 1518 4.30 1.45 − 66.3 219.61 58.77 − 73.2
Female 676 4.58 1.18 − 74.2 230.68 50.71 − 78.0
All 2199 4.39 1.36 − 69.0 223.04 56.27 − 74.8
p values Year < .001

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002
Pilates Male 66 2.55 1.44 − 43.3 52.73 27.50 − 47.8
Female 232 2.22 1.95 − 12.3 46.63 24.02 − 48.5
All 298 2.29 1.84 − 19.8 47.96 24.80 − 48.3
p values

Year < .001

Year x Gender .005

 Year < .001 Gender .043
Running/jogging Male 492 3.32 4.35 31.1 35.09 31.49 − 10.3
Female 293 3.04 4.71 54.6 35.29 34.43 − 2.4
All 789 3.22 4.48 39.3 35.23 32.68 − 7.2
p values Year < .001
Swimming Male 399 4.08 0.58 − 85.9 52.53 10.27 − 80.5
Female 393 4.54 1.16 − 74.5 64.91 11.35 − 82.5
All 796 4.32 0.87 − 79.9 58.63 10.80 − 81.6
p values Year < .001 Gender .015

Year < .001 Gender .013

Year x Gender .006
Tennis Male 403 3.42 1.58 − 53.9 104.27 41.70 − 60.0
Female 334 3.08 1.12 − 63.6 114.32 33.83 − 70.4
All 740 3.27 1.37 − 58.1 108.75 38.42 − 64.7
p values Year < .001

Year < .001

Year x Gender .002
Walking Male 1303 7.12 8.68 21.9 54.03 51.68 − 4.4
Female 1045 6.61 8.86 34.1 59.97 56.38 − 6.0
All 2353 6.89 8.76 27.1 56.67 53.78 − 5.1
p values Year < .001 Gender .006
Yoga Male 74 3.09 3.23 4.4 34.47 21.34 − 38.1
Female 227 2.60 3.35 28.7 44.56 28.28 − 36.5
All 305 2.72 3.32 21.9 41.85 26.54 − 36.6
p values Year < .001 Gender .001
Other activities 7,8 Male 520 2.74 1.26 − 53.9 86.22 30.78 − 64.3
Female 554 3.20 1.82 − 43.0 74.80 24.28 − 67.5
All 1079 3.01 1.55 − 48.6 80.13 27.39 − 65.8
All activities8 Male 8826 4.44 2.80 − 36.9 103.10 39.98 − 61.2
Female 5704 4.18 3.29 − 21.3 89.70 36.66 − 59.1
Other2 31 5.35 2.10 − 60.8 67.90 16.83 − 75.2
No response2 21 7.57 2.85 − 62.4 121.90 40.95 − 66.4
All 14,582 4.34 2.99 − 31.2 97.81 38.65 − 60.5

1Of the 4862 survey respondents identified by age as adult 4724 answered the questions on sport and physical activities. They reported 16,117 instances of participation (i.e. a person reporting participation in a particular activity) in a total of 88 sports and physical activities—an average of 3.4 different activities per person. The 15 activities which each contributed at least 1% of all instances of participation are listed in this table

2Four gender response categories were provided: ‘Male’, ‘Female’, ‘Other’, and ‘Choose not to (abbreviated to ‘No response’ in the table). The ‘Other’ and ‘No response’ categories had counts, across all activities, of 31 and 21 respectively. The maximum count for an individual activity was 6. With such small sample sizes, the evidence base is small and the sampling variability is extremely large, and so for these categories the results for individual activities are not included in the table. For the aggregate results of all activities combined, results for all four gender categories are included

3Some respondents did not answer the frequency and duration questions, and so the total number of responses is 14,582 rather than 16,117. A few gave partial responses, and so the sample sizes for the four variables in this table are not exactly equal. The indicative sample sizes shown in the table are for the frequency before Covid

4Question wording for frequency: “Before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, in a usual two-week period during the season for each of these sports, how many times would you participate (including any training or practice)?”; “In the past two weeks, how many times have you participated in each of these sports (including any training or practice)?”

5Question wording for duration: “On average, how many minutes would each session last?”; “On average, how many minutes does each session last?”

6Only statistically significant p values (< .05) are shown in the table

7 ‘Other’ encompasses the 73 activities which each contributed less than 1% of all reported instances of participation

8No statistical significance tests were conducted for data aggregated across multiple activities because many respondents participated in more than one activity, violating the assumption of independent observations