This study assesses three factors that influence the quantification of children’s and adolescents’ physical activity (PA) using accelerometers: selection of (1) non-wear algorithm, (2) epoch length and (3) cut-points. A total of 1525 participants from MoMo wave 3 (2018–2022), aged 6–17 years, wore GT3X accelerometers (ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) during waking hours. Acceleration counts were reintegrated into lengths of...

The COVID‑19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic created a multitude of natural experiments about the change of human behavior in a widely unfamiliar situation. Besides physical and mental health, physical activity (PA) and people’s movement behaviors were of particular interest to researchers all over the world. In a recent study, we found that among youth in Germany, sports activity declined, whereas recreational screen time...

Structured activities, in which children participate for example at school, are consistent and limited in scope. After-school or weekend activities, by contrast, involve a wider range of behaviors. Studies have shown that physical activity (PA), as measured by accelerometers, is lower on weekends compared to weekdays or school days, whereas PA does not differ between weekdays. In the present study, we examined accelerometer da...

Little is known about behavioral transfer and compensation within and between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior. Thus, taking a within-person perspective, this study investigated across 1 week whether (a) children and adolescents compensate for increased MVPA and sedentary behavior with less of the respective behavior the next day and (b) transfer and compensation occur between these behavior...