The Differences between Less Fit and Overweight Children on Enjoyment of Exergames, Other Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours

Converting sedentary screen-time into active screen-time might provide an effective way to encourage children to accumulate more health-related physical activity. However, there is little empirical evidence available to determine whether children enjoy exergames equally or more than, traditional sedentary activities or traditional physical activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the differences between less fit and overweight children on enjoyment of several activities including one sedentary activity (playing PS3 game), two exergames (Xbox Kinect Bowling and Wii Tennis) and one physical activity (running). One hundred and sixty-two children, aged 11.2±0.8 years were divided into two groups (normal weight and overweight) according to their weight status (BMI). Participants individually attended three testing sessions during which they performed baseline measures and several physical activities as describe above. Following each activity children completed a Physical Activity Enjoyment Questionnaire. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was conducted to evaluate the effect of weight status on the enjoyment of those activities. Results indicated that running was the least enjoyable activity whereas the exergame, Wii Bowling, was the most enjoyable activity. Children ranked the two exergames as the most enjoyable activities irrespective of weight status. No significant differences were found between groups. Conclusively, children’s enjoyment of exergames could be capitalised on in order to develop interventions to increase physical activity. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the ERPA Congress 2014.