Influence of session context on physical activity levels among Russian girls during a summer camp

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of summer camp session context on Russian girls’ physical activity (PA). Method: Girls (n = 32, Mage = 10.7 years, SD = 0.6 years) from a resident summer camp taking place in the Vologda Region of Russia were exposed to 1 session context/day (i.e., free play, organized with no choice, organized with choice) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for 3 weeks, with the context order counterbalanced across the 3 weeks. The organized session sport/game changed weekly. The primary outcome was accelerometer-assessed PA. Repeated-measures mixed models were used to analyze all outcome data. Results: Findings showed that girls spent a greater percentage of session time (%time) in moderate-to-vigorous PA (p <.001; effect sizes between free play and organized with no choice and organized with choice, respectively =.60,.42) and moderate PA (p <.001; effect size =.57,.39) and a lower %time in light PA (p <.001; effect size =.55,.52) in organized PA contexts compared with free play. Conclusions: This study provides novel findings in a Russian setting, suggesting that a well-planned, organized camp session can elicit higher PA levels in girls, relative to a free-play session.