Cited by 579Obesity, Physical Activity, DietPhysical Activity and HealthNutrition, Health and Food Behavior

The clustering of diet, physical activity and sedentary behavior in children and adolescents: a review

Open access
Leech, Rebecca M, McNaughton, Sarah A, Timperio, Anna·2014·International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Abstract

Diet, physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior are important, yet modifiable, determinants of obesity. Recent research into the clustering of these behaviors suggests that children and adolescents have multiple obesogenic risk factors. This paper reviews studies using empirical, data-driven methodologies, such as cluster analysis (CA) and latent class analysis (LCA), to identify clustering patterns of diet, PA and sedentary behavior among children or adolescents and their associations with socio-demographic indicators, and overweight and obesity. A literature search of electronic databases was undertaken to identify studies which have used data-driven methodologies to investigate the clustering of diet, PA and sedentary behavior among children and adolescents aged 5-18 years old. Eighteen studies (62% of potential studies) were identified that met the inclusion criteria, of which eight examined the clustering of PA and sedentary behavior and eight examined diet, PA and sedentary behavior. Studies were mostly cross-sectional and conducted in older children and adolescents (≥ 9 years). Findings from the review suggest that obesogenic cluster patterns are complex with a mixed PA/sedentary behavior cluster observed most frequently, but healthy and unhealthy patterning of all three behaviors was also reported. Cluster membership was found to differ according to age, gender and socio-economic status (SES). The tendency for older children/adolescents, particularly females, to comprise clusters defined by low PA was the most robust finding. Findings to support an association between obesogenic cluster patterns and overweight and obesity were inconclusive, with longitudinal research in this area limited. Diet, PA and sedentary behavior cluster together in complex ways that are not well understood. Further research, particularly in younger children, is needed to understand how cluster membership differs according to socio-demographic profile. Longitudinal research is also essential to establish how different cluster patterns track over time and their influence on the development of overweight and obesity.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/1479-5868-11-4

Cites

62 of 62 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Dietary habits persist from adolescence into adulthood.

    “Considering that dietary habits persist from adolescence into adulthood (101), and that cardiometabolic disease risk factors are often formed in childhood and adolescence (102), understanding how chronotype influences diet quality and eating patterns in childhood and adolescence is essential in guiding the development of dietary strategies to prevent chronic disease development.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Everitt BS Landau S Leese M Stahl D Cluster analysis 2011 5 West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
  2. Kuczmarski RJ Ogden CL Grummer-Strawn LM Flegal KM Guo SS Wei R Mei Z Curtin L Roche AF Johnson CL CDC growth charts Adv Data 2000 314 1 27 11183293
  3. Gibson RS Principles of nutritional assessment 2005 2 New York: Oxford University Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Leech, R. M., McNaughton, S. A., & Timperio, A.
Affiliations
Deakin University (AU)
Corresponding author
Leech, Rebecca M
Venue
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Published
2014
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
4
ISSN
1479-5868 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1487212223
Cited by
579
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 21 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 64 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 59 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 12
FWCI
6.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Australian Research Council (FT100100581)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
Keywords
diet, physical activity, sedentary behavior, childhood obesity, adolescent obesity, socioeconomic status, gender differences, age differences, clustering, latent class analysis
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Child, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, Diet, Humans, Motor Activity, Obesity, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Health Behavior, Overweight, Sedentary Behavior

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review