The Role of Socioeconomic Position in Adolescent Physical Activity
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: There is strong evidence of health inequalities during and beyond adolescence and inequalities in the social determinants of health including physical activity. Unlike in children and adults, the impact of socioeconomic position (SEP) on physical activity behaviour during adolescence is unclear. Qualitative evidence aiming to understand this from the adolescent perspective is lacking, as are efforts to understand equitable approaches to physical activity promotion. Aim: Taking a mixed-methods approach, this thesis aims further our understanding of the role of SEP in adolescent physical activity and in the development of equitable physical activity promotion strategies. Project 1: First, I report on my systematic review of qualitative evidence to understand if adolescents' experiences of the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity differ by SEP. Synthesising 25 studies, the review shows that adolescents of a low-SEP experience more barriers to physical activity than those of middle- and high-SEP. These findings highlight adolescents of a low-SEP as a high-risk group, this is used to inform the approaches taken in the following project. Project 2: I then took a mixed-methods case study approach to evaluate whether socioeconomic inequalities arise during a school-based physical activity intervention. The findings of this project suggest school-based population level interventions have the potential to benefit students of a low-SEP, however differential engagement in the intervention and response to evaluation measures may have biased these conclusions. Throughout this project, I demonstrate a novel way of evaluating inequalities within young people’s physical activity interventions. Project 3: Given the promise of school-based physical activity interventions, I then planned to take a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a targeted intervention applying Sport England’s satellite club model to the school setting. U…
abstract: Background: There is strong evidence of health inequalities during and beyond adolescence and inequalities in the social determinants of health including physical activity. Unlike in children and adults, the impact of socioeconomic position (SEP) on physical activity behaviour during adolescence is unclear. Qualitative evidence aiming to understand this from the adolescent perspective is lacking, as are efforts to understand equitable approaches to physical activity promotion. Aim: Taking a mixed-methods approach, this thesis aims further our understanding of the role of SEP in adolescent physical activity and in the development of equitable physical activity promotion strategies. Project 1: First, I report on my systematic review of qualitative evidence to understand if adolescents' experiences of the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity differ by SEP. Synthesising 25 studies, the review shows that adolescents of a low-SEP experience more barriers to physical activity than those of middle- and high-SEP. These findings highlight adolescents of a low-SEP as a high-risk group, this is used to inform the approaches taken in the following project. Project 2: I then took a mixed-methods case study approach to evaluate whether socioeconomic inequalities arise during a school-based physical activity intervention. The findings of this project suggest school-based population level interventions have the potential to benefit students of a low-SEP, however differential engagement in the intervention and response to evaluation measures may have biased these conclusions. Throughout this project, I demonstrate a novel way of evaluating inequalities within young people’s physical activity interventions. Project 3: Given the promise of school-based physical activity interventions, I then planned to take a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a targeted intervention applying Sport England’s satellite club model to the school setting. U…
author: Alliott, Olivia
language: eng
keywords: Adolescence, Physical Activity, Socioeconomic Position
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/cd83a376-52d6-4e35-8b14-3c6bceb5f5ac/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2023-06-22
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:01Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.100539