The perspective of longitudinal studies is reported by means of the tracking study review by Telama, and by studies from childhood and adolescence to middle adulthood, in adulthood, longtime tracking from young age to old age, and in old age. Physical activity is discussed as a habit, and other causal links and possible pathways of physical activity are presented. The determinants and correlates are factors that affect or are related to physical activity such as the demographic and biological, psychological, behavioral, social and cultural, and physical environment. In this review, a life-course approach to physical activity and sports participation means studying the tracking of physical activity and the long-term determinants and correlates of physical activity. The transitions (retirement) or events (child birth, death of spouse) at later stages of the life course can also shape the direction of trajectories. Research using the life-course perspective has emphasized the impact of childhood or early life conditions and experiences on adulthood. In addition, qualitative studies that involve life reviews and life stories are able to answer different research questions and deepen the quantitative results. In general, longitudinal studies create an opportunity to investigate prospectively or retrospectively life-course patterns of physical activity over time and across various life events and transitions.
The best opportunity to study life-course events and exposures in epidemiology is provided by birth cohort studies that can link development and environment to later health outcomes. According to life-course theory such as accumulation theory, cross-sectional factors and experiences in different phases of life accumulate longitudinally in later life. The life-course perspective has been introduced as a temporal research perspective that can potentially help in understanding physical activity behaviors over the lifespan in particular, it could be useful for the timing of physical activity interventions. According to these results in particular, the polarization of exercise to the active and inactive portions of the population is accumulated over time, and gender and social background features require special attention. A life-course approach provides understanding on long-ranging developmental trajectories. In contrast, retirement presented itself as a good chance of starting new leisure time activities. Repeated social reinforcement in the form of support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness is important especially in transition periods and life events such as secondary schooling, change in employment, and change in family structure.
Furthermore, in old age, earlier physical activity seems to be the key determinant along with gender.
If physical activity is at a low level in early adulthood, it does not easily become a part of life later on, particularly among blue-collar workers, women, and people with initially poor perceived health. Socioeconomic status, place of residence, and personal upward social mobility are related to participation. Especially, inactivity rather than activity tends to track from youth to adulthood. It seems that intensive participation in general in physical activity and sports, as well as participation at school age, are important predictors of adulthood participation. The purpose of this paper was to discuss physical activity and sports participation in a life-course framework, long-term tracking, determinants, and correlates of physical activity from childhood to old age, and present possible causal links and pathways for the continuity of physical activity.
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