Perceived Social Support and Sustained Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  1. Verity Hailey
  2. Abi Fisher
  3. Mark Hamer
  4. Daisy Fancourt

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Abstract

Background

COVID-19 lockdown introduced substantial barriers to physical activity, providing a unique ‘natural experiment’ to understand the social factors associated with sustained physical activity. The objectives of this study were to identify the proportion of people who successfully sustained physical activity during lockdown and to explore whether social support, loneliness and social isolation were associated with maintenance of physical activity during COVID-19 lockdown.

Method

Longitudinal data from 16,980 participants, mean age 51.3 years (SD = 14.3) from the COVID-19 Social Study was used to identify a sample of participants who maintained their physical activity despite lockdown.

Results

Seventeen percent were consistently active whilst 42% were completely inactive. After adjustment for multiple confounders, high social support was associated with a 64% (95% CI 50–80%) increased odds of sustaining physical activity and medium social support was associated with 32% (95% CI 20–44%) increased odds. Associations between physical activity and loneliness and social isolation were not found.

Conclusion

This study supports previous research showing the importance of social support for the long-term maintenance of physical activity behaviour but shows that such effects extend to contexts of social restrictions.

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  1. Version published to 10.1007/s12529-022-10125-2
  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.03.04.21252466v2 on medRxiv
  3. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.03.04.21252466: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The study was approved by UCL Research Ethics Committee (12467/005), with all participants giving informed consent.
    Consent: The study was approved by UCL Research Ethics Committee (12467/005), with all participants giving informed consent.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations of the study include non-random sampling approach leading to a less representative sample of the UK population. As with many studies, participants were highly educated, white and female. The study used self-reported measure of physical activity leaving it open to reporting bias e.g. imprecise recall. Attempts were made to minimise this by providing examples of common types of exercise with corresponding intensities. This study looks at those who have remained active throughout lockdown, we are not aware of similar data published anywhere else looking at sustained activity. The potential for multiple lockdowns over extended periods of time could cause prolonged periods of low physical activity for a substantial proportion of the population leading to increased risk of issues with physical and mental health. This study supports previous research showing the importance of social support for the long-term maintenance of physical activity behaviour but shows that such effects extend to contexts of social restrictions, with much more consistent results than for other types of social factors including loneliness and social isolation. The development of interventions and programs to support physical activity both during and outside of pandemic situations should ensure that social support is built in using theories that have shown to promote regular physical activity participation.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  4. Version published to 10.1101/2021.03.04.21252466v1 on medRxiv