抄録
Starting from March 2, 2020, schools of every kind were temporarily closed to prevent COVID-19 infections. Despite dispersed school attendance being enforced during the closure, temporary school closures continued until the end of May. Elementary and junior high school students’ exercise habits changed because they could not step out of their homes unless necessary or during an emergency. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in exercise time before and during temporary closures among 5,619 elementary (boys and girls) and junior high school (male and female) students in three stages by school grade and gender, namely, increased, unchanged, and decreased. Participants were classified into six groups, which were compared based on the frequencies of the following variables: i) affiliation with an athletic organization (Yes and No); and ii) frequency of exercise with parents during school closure (more than thrice a week, once or twice a week, and less than thrice a month). Decrease in exercise time tended to be significantly higher among boys and girls who were in athletic clubs and exercised less than twice per week, together with male and female students who were in athletic clubs and exercised less than thrice per month. However, increase in exercise time tended to be significantly higher among girls and female students who were not in athletic clubs and exercised more than thrice per week as well as boys who exercised more than thrice per week, regardless of their affiliations with an athletic organization. The impact of each factor, athletic organization affiliation, and parental involvement varied based on grade and gender; however, at least the majority of children and students whose exercise time decreased, parental involvement was less than twice per week.
