Socioeconomic inequalities in physical activity among children and adolescents in the UK and Ireland: a scoping review mapping evidence from 2015 to 2025
Samantha Robinson, Angela Carlin, John J Reilly, Kelly A Mackintosh, Laura Basterfield, Maria O’KaneObjectives
Regular physical activity (PA) in childhood and adolescence provides health benefits. Levels of PA among children and adolescents are influenced by a range of factors, some of which are well-established, including sex and age; however, evidence regarding the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and PA remains equivocal, yet children from lower-income households are often less active than their more affluent peers. In the UK and Ireland, despite national policies promoting PA, evidence on how socioeconomic inequalities in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) have changed over time, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains limited. This scoping review aimed to map the extent and nature of research on socioeconomic differences in child and adolescent MVPA.
Design
The review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines and was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework.
Data sources
Studies were identified through seven electronic databases, hand-searching, grey literature and expert recommendations.
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria were participants aged 0–18 years, inclusion of MVPA outcomes and socioeconomic indicators and data collection between 2015 and 2025 within the UK and Ireland.
Data extraction and synthesis
Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Findings were synthesised numerically and thematically, focusing on MVPA measures, SES and temporal trends.
Results
Of 6735 identified studies, 26 met inclusion criteria. Evidence for socioeconomic differences in MVPA was mixed. Only one study using device-measured MVPA identified a socioeconomic gap, while self-reported or proxy-reported measures more frequently indicated disparities. No consistent trends in SES differences over time were observed.
Conclusions
There is insufficient evidence that socioeconomic inequalities in MVPA among children and adolescents in the UK and Ireland have changed over time. Observed disparities may reflect methodological differences, particularly variations in socioeconomic indicators and MVPA measurement methods, contributing to inconsistent findings. However, causal explanations cannot be established, highlighting the need for longitudinal research using consistent SES indicators and device-based MVPA measures.
Registration
Robinson, S., O'Kane, M., Carlin, A., Reilly, J., Mackintosh, K., & Basterfield, L. (2025, May 12). The socioeconomic gap in physical activity for children and adolescents in the UK and Ireland, has it changed over time? A scoping review.