Mills Legacy Symposium 2017 Abstract

Gender differences in objectively measured sedentary behavior among college

students
Sedentary behavior, defined as any waking behavior characterized by energy expenditure ≤ 1.5
metabolic equivalents while in a sitting, reclining, or lying position, has been linked to many
chronic diseases. As such, much work has been dedicated to describing this behavior in a
variety of populations. Some studies have suggested that adult males may spend less time
sedentary than adult females. However, these data are typically self-reported, which has been
shown to under-report sedentary behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis was to
objectively measure sedentary behavior in adults in order to assess potential differences in this
behavior by gender. Participants (n=36; 64% male) wore an inclinometer (Activpal), used to
objectively measure sedentary behavior, for seven days. On average, males were sedentary
618.65 ±19.85 (mean ±SD) minutes per day, with sedentary bouts averaging 13.45 ±1.14
minutes, whereas females were sedentary for 576.83 ±16.27 minutes per day, with bouts
lasting 14.58 ±1.75 minutes. These was not a significant difference in total sedentary time
between males and females (p= 0.15), nor was there a difference in average bout length
(p=0.58). These results suggest that future analyses describing sedentary behavior among
populations may need to incorporate objective measures of sedentary behavior.