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BOX 2-2 Continued

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Status and Trends of Physical Activity Behaviors and Related School Policies
 
45
FIGURE 2-1
Percentage of middle and high school students reporting they engaged in 
no days, 5 days, or 7 days per week of 60+ minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity 
physical activity.
NOTE: The middle school estimate is the mean of 15 statewide surveys; the high school esti-
mate is based on a nationwide sample.
SOURCE: CDC, 2012b.
Figure 2-1.eps
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
No Days/wk
5 Days/wk
7 Days/wk
P
ercentage
Middle School Students
High School Students
reported meeting the recommended 7 days (CDC, 2012b) (see Figure 2-1). 
In a different ongoing national survey of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade stu-
dents—Monitoring the Future—fewer than half of students reported doing 
60 or more minutes of vigorous activity every or almost every day (Delva 
et al., 2006).
Results from surveys measuring physical activity with accelerometers 
and including younger children similarly suggest that few children, espe-
cially older ones, meet the currently recommended volume of vigorous- or 
moderate-intensity physical activity. A study of accelerometer-measured 
physical activity among students in central Massachusetts found that 
almost all students in grades 1-6, but fewer than one-third of high school 
students, performed at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity 
physical activity at least 5 days per week (Pate et al., 2002) (see Figure 2-2); 
the proportion of students meeting the 7-day recommendation would, of 
course, be lower. Also worth noting is that for high school students in this 
study, the accelerometer-estimated prevalence is about half the self-reported 
estimated prevalence for the same dose among students responding to the 
YRBS (see Figure 2-1). (See Box 2-3 on measuring physical activity.)
Results of other surveys confirm the decline in vigorous- or moderate-
intensity physical activity with age (Nader et al., 2008; Troiano et al., 
2008). Figure 2-3 displays the mean number of minutes of vigorous- or 
moderate-intensity physical activity per day rather than the proportion who 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
46