There are numerous health benefits for children and adolescents who engage in sufficient physical activity (PA; Cesa et al., 2014 ; McMahon et al., 2017 ; Poitras et al., 2016 ). Accordingly, there is strong emphasis among governments, researchers, and health agencies on monitoring and improving
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James Woodforde, Sjaan Gomersall, Anna Timperio, Venurs Loh, Hannah Browning, Francisco Perales, Jo Salmon, and Michalis Stylianou
Silvia A. González, Olga L. Sarmiento, Richard Larouche, Jean-Philippe Chaput, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, and Mark S. Tremblay
In Colombia, according to the most recent survey of nutrition, in 2015, only 24.4% of preschoolers, 31.1% of school-aged children, and 13.4% of adolescents achieved the recommended amount of daily physical activity for health. 1 , 2 Consequently, the majority of Colombian children were not
Gary S. Goldfield, Katherine Henderson, Annick Buchholz, Nicole Obeid, Hien Nguyen, and Martine F. Flament
Objective:
To examine the association between volume and intensity of physical activity (PA) and depressive symptoms, anxiety, and body image in a large sample of adolescents in Ottawa and surrounding region.
Methods:
A total of 1259 (n = 746 girls and n = 513 boys) students responded to surveys on leisure time PA, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and body image.
Results:
A dose response effect of intensity of PA and psychological distress was observed whereby those who performed greater bouts of vigorous PA exhibited better psychological adjustment than adolescents engaging in mild to moderate intensity activity. Gender impacted the results as vigorous PA was associated with reduced depression but not anxiety in boys, and reduced anxiety but not depression in girls. The positive association between total volume of PA and psychological functioning in the overall sample was no longer significant when gender was considered, except for reduced anxiety in girls.
Conclusions:
Vigorous PA was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms, anxiety and improvements in body esteem in adolescents, but these associations were differentially influenced by gender. Future research is needed to elucidate the efficacy of vigorous PA as a treatment for mental health problems in male and female adolescents.
Katie E. Gunnell, Jennifer Brunet, Erin K. Wing, and Mathieu Bélanger
Background:
Perceived barriers to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PA) may contribute to the low rates of moderate-to-vigorous PA in adolescents. We examined the psychometric properties of scores from the perceived barriers to moderate-to-vigorous PA scale (PB-MVPA) by examining composite reliability and validity evidence based on the internal structure of the PB-MVPA and relations with other variables.
Methods:
This study was a cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 2013 from adolescents (N = 507; M age = 12.40, SD = .62) via self-report scales.
Results:
Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we found that perceived barriers were best represented as two factors representing internal (e.g., “I am not interested in physical activity”) and external (e.g., “I need equipment I don’t have”) dimensions. Composite reliability was over .80. Using multiple regression to examine the relationship between perceived barriers and moderate-to-vigorous PA, we found that perceived internal barriers were inversely related to moderate-to-vigorous PA (β = -.32, p < .05). Based on results of the analysis of variances, there were no known-group sex differences for perceived internal and external barriers (p < .26).
Conclusions:
The PB-MVPA scale demonstrated evidence of score reliability and validity. To improve the understanding of the impact of perceived barriers on moderate-to-vigorous PA in adolescents, researchers should examine internal and external barriers separately.
Charlotte Louise Edwardson, Trish Gorely, Hayley Musson, Rebecca Duncombe, and Rachel Sandford
Background:
Previous research has shown a positive relationship between activity-related social support provided by parents and peers and adolescents’ physical activity. However, more information is needed on whether activity-related social support differs by sociodemographic characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in activity-related social support in a sample of adolescents, by characteristics such as age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, and physical activity level and to determine which characteristics are the most important predictors of activity-related social support.
Methods:
Information was provided by 578 boys and 588 girls (11–14 years) on demographic factors, physical activity, and activity-related support. ANOVA, correlations, and multiple regression were performed to address the purposes of the study.
Results:
Boys, White British, younger, more physically active, and high-SES adolescents perceived more support for physical activity. Age predicted all types of support excluding peer support; ethnicity predicted mother logistic support and sibling support; gender predicted peer support, father explicit modeling, and father logistic support; and SES predicted mother and father logistic support.
Conclusions:
Families and peers of adolescents who are female, from Black and minority ethnic groups, older, of low-SES, and less active should be targeted for intervention.
Chung Gun Lee, Youngtae Cho, and Seunghyun Yoo
Purpose:
Suicide is the leading cause of death among Korean adolescents. This study investigates the cross-sectional relations of physical activity with suicidal ideation and attempts in adolescents, simultaneously considering previously reported risk factors of suicide such as depression, stress, and body image.
Methods:
This study used the 2007 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS). Four hundred middle schools and 400 high schools in Korea were monitored, and 74,698 students completed the questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between physical activity and suicidal ideation and attempts, progressively adjusting for body image, depression and stress.
Results:
After controlling for body image, stress, and depression, the significant relationship between physical activity and suicidal ideation disappeared, and the only remaining relationship was a positive relationship between frequent vigorous physical activity and suicide attempts. No sex differences were found after adjusting for all the variables.
Conclusion:
Unlike the general expectation that physical activity protects adolescents from suicidal behaviors, the results from this study suggest that physical activity does not have protective effect. Korean adolescents who perform frequent vigorous physical activities are more likely to attempt suicide.
Carlos M. Cervantes and David L. Porretta
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an after school physical activity intervention on adolescents with visual impairments within the context of Social Cognitive Theory. Four adolescents with visual impairments (1 female, 3 males) between 14 and 19 years of age from a residential school for the blind served as participants. We used a range-bound changing criterion single-subject design. Physical activity was measured using ActiGraph accelerometers. Questionnaires were used to obtain information on selected social cognitive theory constructs. Results show that the intervention exerted functional control over the target behaviors (e.g., leisure-time physical activity) during intervention phases. Similarly, changes in scores for selected social cognitive constructs, in particular for outcome expectancy value, suggest a positive relationship between those constructs and physical activity behavior. No maintenance effects were observed.
Weidong Li, Paul Rukavina, and Paul Wright
The purpose of this study was to examine coping against weight-related teasing among adolescents perceived to be overweight or obese in urban physical education. Forty-seven students perceived to be overweight or obese from a large urban school district were interviewed. Trustworthiness of data analysis was established by using a member-checking procedure, focus group interview, and peer debriefing throughout the research process. The results indicated that adolescents perceived to be overweight or obese used self-protection, compensation, confrontation, seeking social support, avoidance/psychological disengagement, losing weight and stress reduction strategies to cope against weight-related teasing. Adolescents used multiple strategies under different mechanisms to cope, and the strategies they chose were dependent on the situation.
Alexandre Magalhães, Milton Severo, Roseanne Autran, Joana Araújo, Paula Santos, Maria Fátima Pina, and Elisabete Ramos
We aimed to assess the validity of a single question to evaluate leisure-time physical activity (PA) in adolescents. We included 209 participants (57.4% girls) aged 14–18 years from Porto, Portugal, evaluated as part of the SALTA project. A self-reported question with four answer options, designed for the EPITeen study, was used to classify the intensity level of usual leisure-time activities. Actigraph accelerometers were used to objectively measure total PA during 7 consecutive days. Since the accelerometers measured PA as a continuous variable, hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify clusters of individuals with similar level of objectively measured PA. Correlations between self-reported and objective measures were evaluated through polychoric correlations. In girls, we found higher mean time on sedentary activities among those describing their leisure-time PA as “sitting”, and an increase on the time spent on light and moderate activities with increasing intensity of PA on self-reported classification. A similar trend was found in boys, but not reaching statistical significance. The correlation between the two measures of PA was 0.42 for girls and 0.46 for boys. We found an acceptable correlation between our single question and the objectively measured PA, showing that, although the single question is not adequate to quantify the intensity of the physical activity, it allows to rank adolescents according to leisure-time physical activity.
Liang Hu, Shoubin Cheng, Jiaying Lu, Lele Zhu, and Ling Chen
Purpose:
In this study, we examined the effect of the manipulation of exercise self-efficacy on the enjoyment of physical activity in a sample of 44 Chinese adolescents (age = 14.27 ± .87 y), including 22 boys and 22 girls.
Methods:
The participants were randomized into a low-efficacy or high-efficacy condition, and their self-efficacy beliefs for engaging in moderate-intensity physical activity were manipulated by providing false feedback after a submaximal exercise test. The participants’ self-efficacy was measured and compared before and after the exercise test and the participants’ enjoyment of physical activity was assessed after the exercise test.
Results:
It was found that exercise self-efficacy was successfully manipulated in the expected direction in both conditions, which significantly influenced the participants’ enjoyment of physical activity. After the exercise test, the participants in the low-efficacy condition reported lower enjoyment scores relative to the high-efficacy participants.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that self-efficacy may have an important influence on the enjoyment of physical activity among Chinese adolescents. We recommend that physical activity promotion programs should be tailored to enhance adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs and enjoyment of the experience of physical activity.
