Economic Freedom, Climate Culpability, and Physical Activity Indicators Among Children and Adolescents: Report Card Grades From the Global Matrix 4.0

Eun-Young Lee*, Patrick Abi Nader, Salomé Aubert, Silvia A González, Peter T Katzmarzyk, Asaduzzaman Khan, Wendy Y Huang, Taru Manyanga, Shawnda Morrison, Diego Augusto Santos Silva, Mark S Tremblay

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Macrolevel factors such as economic and climate factors can be associated with physical activity indicators. This study explored patterns and relationships between economic freedom, climate culpability, and Report Card grades on physical activity-related indicators among 57 countries/jurisdictions participating in the Global Matrix 4.0.

METHODS: Participating countries/jurisdictions provided Report Card grades on 10 common indicators. Information on economic freedom and climatic factors were gathered from public data sources. Correlations between the key variables were provided by income groups (ie, low- and middle-income countries/jurisdictions and high-income countries/jurisdictions [HIC]).

RESULTS: HIC were more economically neoliberal and more responsible for climate change than low- and middle-income countries. Annual temperature and precipitation were negatively correlated with behavioral/individual indicators in low- and middle-income countries but not in HIC. In HIC, correlations between climate culpability and behavioral/individual and economic indicators were more apparent. Overall, poorer grades were observed in highly culpable countries/jurisdictions in the highly free group, while in less/moderately free groups, less culpable countries/jurisdictions showed poorer grades than their counterparts in their respective group by economic freedom.

CONCLUSIONS: Global-level physical activity promotion strategies should closely evaluate different areas that need interventions tailored by income groups, with careful considerations for inequities in the global political economy and climate change.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)745-757
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Physical Activity and Health
Volume19
Issue number11
Early online date24 Oct 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2022

User-Defined Keywords

  • SDG
  • capitalism
  • climate change
  • environment
  • geopolitics
  • global governance
  • global health
  • health disparities
  • neoliberalism
  • youth

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