Association Between Physical Fitness and Engagement with Home-Based Physical Activity Equipment and Activity Locations Among Adolescents: The DESpertar Project

Background and Objectives: Adolescents’ engagement with physical activity (PA) supportive environments has mostly been examined through variable-centered approaches, with PA rather than physical fitness (PF) as the outcome. We aimed to (1) identify latent profiles of combined engagement with home-based PA equipment and activity locations among adolescents, (2) examine whether profile membership differed by age, sex, and family sociodemographic characteristics, and (3) investigate the associations between the identified profiles and PF components.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 764 adolescents (357 girls) aged 10–17 years from the population-based DESpertar project, conducted across the nine islands of the Azores archipelago, Portugal. Caregivers reported adolescents’ engagement across six indicators (small, medium, and large equipment; domestic, public, and institutional places). PF was evaluated with six field tests assessing muscular, motor, and cardiorespiratory components. Latent profile analysis, multinomial logistic regression, and multivariate regression were used.