Moderators of Change in Physical Activity Levels during Restrictions Due to COVID-19 Pandemic in Young Urban Adults

This study aimed to investigate moderators of change in physical activity (PA) levels after 30 days (30-d) of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults. This research is an extension of the CRO-PALS study and analyses for this study were performed on young adults (20-21 y.o., n = 91). Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sport participation, student and socioeconomic status were assessed pre- and post-30-d restrictions. Differences in MVPA levels were examined using repeated-measures ANOVAs. After 30-d of restrictions, the drop in MVPA in females (-64.8 min/day,p= 0.006) and males was shown (-57.7 min/day,p< 0.00). However, active participants decreased, while non-active peers increased their MVPA level (-100.7 min/day,p< 0.00, and +48.9 min/day,p= 0.051, respectively). Moreover, students and non-students decreased their MVPA level (-69.0 min/day,p< 0.00, and -35.0 min/day,p= 0.22, respectively) as well as sport participants and non-sport participants (-95.3 min/day,p< 0.001, and -53.9 min/day,p< 0.00, respectively). Our results suggest that 30-d of restrictions equally affect females and males where the evident drop in MVPA is seen in both genders. However, active people decreased their PA level during lockdown and the opposite pattern was seen in non-active peers, where restrictions for them can represent an opportunity to change their behavior in a positive direction in order to gain better health status.