Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

Teenagers from low income homes are fitter than their higher income counterparts:

…young South African children from poorer backgrounds are less active than their wealthier counterparts, according to the “BratTrax” survey conducted by Youth Dynamix.

The survey of 1110 children in 2007 and 2008 shows that 65% of lower-income children aged between seven and 12 “do nothing to keep healthy and fit”. Lack of sports and parental support are among the reasons for this, the report says.

But when they hit their teens, upper-income adolescents, with time pressures caused by homework and extra-mural activities, become less active than their poorer counterparts.