Physical Activity-related Behaviors Research Articles

Formative Research Supports a Change Agent Approach to Prevent Obesity in American Indian Households

High obesity rates among Americans Indians are associated with environmental factors that influence food and physical activity‐related behaviors. Formative research in Michigan consisted of 98 interviews (workshops, in‐depth, focus groups, and household groups). The AI household is a key influential environment upon health behaviors. Children as change agents can impact household diets and physical activity by “sharing” their learned knowledge from school, and by “encouraging,” “reminding,” and “asking” for healthier foods and to be physically active with them. Adults “listen” to and are “inspired” by children's “energy.” Intervention trials for AI communities will use a novel child as change agent approach for improving health behaviors among adult household members. USDA/NIFA/NRI, Grant #2010‐85215‐20666.Grant Funding Source : USDA/NIFA/NRI, Grant #2010‐85215‐20666

Tracking of physical activity during middle school transition in Iranian adolescents

Objective: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine changes in physical activity behavior, psychological factors and interpersonal influences associated with exercise behavior during the transition from secondary school to high school in Sanandaj, Iran. Design: Data were collected from students in 2006 ( N = 1,073), of whom 844 provided follow-up data in 2009. Setting: The students were in high school in 2009 (51% male) with a mean age of 16.42 ± 1.73 years. Method: Physical activity-related cognitions, interpersonal influences, and physical activity behavior were measured using self-report questionnaires. To assess the effects of time and sex on psychosocial factors, analysis of variances (ANOVAs) were conducted. The relative stability of physical activity psychosocial correlates from wave 1 through wave 2 was assessed using Pearson product-moment correlations. Results: There were significant differences according to sex across time for physical activity, psychological variables and interpersonal influences associated with exercise activities. The girls were less active than boys at both time points. Girls reported lower self-efficacy and perceived more barriers and fewer perceived benefits for physical activity over time. Interpersonal influences on activity were more stable for girls than boys. Conclusion: The results offer evidence for decreasing physical activity in boys and girls and sex differences in cognitive variables and interpersonal influences. This is important for understanding how to address the problem of physical inactivity among Iranian youth.

Using a Toolbox of Tailored Educational Lessons to Improve Fruit, Vegetable, and Physical Activity Behaviors among African American Women in California

Objective Evaluate the effectiveness of the Fruit, Vegetable, and Physical Activity Toolbox for Community Educators (Toolbox), an intervention originally designed for Spanish- and English-speaking audiences, in changing knowledge, attitudes, and behavior among low-income African American women. Design Quasi-experimental design with treatment and control groups. Setting Four community-based organizations and direct health service provider sites. Participants African American women ages 18-54 (156 treatment, 171 control), 75% of whom were low income. Intervention Six 1-hour Toolbox classes. Main Outcome Measures Knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, empowerment, and behavior change related to fruits and vegetables and physical activity. Analysis Dependent t tests pre- to posttest and chi-square test between control and treatment groups. Results Women in the treatment group reported significant changes in 9 measures of attitude, compared to 1 measure in the control group, as well as 12 measures of confidence and 5 measures of empowerment for which the control group showed no changes. Compared to those in the control group, women in the treatment group were also more likely to make behavioral changes to meet recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Conclusions and Implications Toolbox lessons were effective in increasing participants’ knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, empowerment, and reported fruit and vegetable- and physical activity-related behaviors.

Parental Social Support and the Physical Activity-Related Behaviors of Youth: A Review

Social support from parents serves as one of the primary influences of youth physical activity-related behaviors. A systematic review was conducted on the relationship of parental social support to the physical activity-related behaviors of youth. Four categories of social support were identified, falling under two distinct mechanisms-tangible and intangible. Tangible social support is divided into two categories: instrumental-purchasing equipment/payment of fees and transportation-and conditional-doing activity with and watching/supervision. Intangible social support is divided into the two categories of motivational- encouragement and praise-and informational-discussing benefits of. The majority of studies demonstrated positive associations among selected measures of parental tangible and intangible social support and youth activity. Overall, parental social support demonstrated positive effects. Many studies, however, combine social support categories and/or respondents into composite measures, making it difficult to disentangle the specific effects of parents and the type of support provided.

Evaluation of the childhood obesity prevention program Kids - 'Go for your life'

BackgroundKids - 'Go for your life' (K-GFYL) is an award-based health promotion program being implemented across Victoria, Australia. The program aims to reduce the risk of childhood obesity by improving the socio-cultural, policy and physical environments in children's care and educational settings. Membership of the K-GFYL program is open to all primary and pre-schools and early childhood services across the State. Once in the program, member schools and services are centrally supported to undertake the health promotion (intervention) activities. Once the K-GFYL program 'criteria' are reached the school/service is assessed and 'awarded'. This paper describes the design of the evaluation of the statewide K-GFYL intervention program.Methods/DesignThe evaluation is mixed method and cross sectional and aims to:1) Determine if K-GFYL award status is associated with more health promoting environments in schools/services compared to those who are members only;2) Determine if children attending K-GFYL award schools/services have higher levels of healthy eating and physical activity-related behaviors compared to those who are members only;3) Examine the barriers to implementing and achieving the K-GFYL award; and4) Determine the economic cost of implementing K-GFYL in primary schoolsParent surveys will capture information about the home environment and child dietary and physical activity-related behaviors. Environmental questionnaires in early childhood settings and schools will capture information on the physical activity and nutrition environment and current health promotion activities. Lunchbox surveys and a set of open-ended questions for kindergarten parents will provide additional data. Resource use associated with the intervention activities will be collected from primary schools for cost analysis.DiscussionThe K-GFYL award program is a community-wide intervention that requires a comprehensive, multi-level evaluation. The evaluation design is constrained by the lack of a non-K-GFYL control group, short time frames and delayed funding of this large scale evaluation across all intervention settings. However, despite this, the evaluation will generate valuable evidence about the utility of a community-wide environmental approach to preventing childhood obesity which will inform future public health policies and health promotion programs internationally.Trial RegistrationACTRN12609001075279

Age group differences in diet and physical activity-related behaviors among rural men and women.

Age group variations in dietary intake and physical activity have been noted in large epidemiologic studies. In this study, specific measures of behavioral strategies add depth to our understanding of these variations and can contribute to the design of effective behavioral interventions. Cross-sectional, behavioral epidemiologic study. Rural Midwestern US. 407 adults. Measures included dietary intake, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and specific behavioral strategies related to diet and physical activity. Use of most strategies related to diet increased across age groups, which was consistent with declining caloric intake and a decline in the proportion of total caloric intake from fat. The same patterns were not found with regard to physical activity. Greater use of diet-related strategies was noted in the oldest age groups compared to the others even though BMI was lower. In the oldest age group at least, strategy use may be more related to attempts to control health conditions than body weight. The findings provide a unique perspective on age group differences in diet and physical activity behavior. Longitudinal tracking of these specific behaviors and their measurement in other populations is warranted.

Cohesion in exercise groups: an overview

The purpose of the present paper is to outline the results from research that has focused on cohesion effects in exercise groups. The review contains six sections. In the first section, the constitutive definition of cohesion is provided and typical operational definitions used to assess the construct in physical activity contexts are outlined. In the second section, the question of whether cohesion is relevant in exercise groups is addressed. In the third section, we focus on the results from research that has focused on individual preferences for group- versus individual-based contexts for physical activity. Finally, the next three sections focus on results associated with the explanation (why is it?), prediction (what will be?), and intervention/control (how can we?) stages of science in relation to cohesion and physical activity-related behaviors, cognitions, and affective responses.

Are People Physically Inactive Because of Their Genes?

Research indicates that the inclination to be physically active or sedentary has a biological foundation. Twin and family studies confi rm that physical activityrelated traits are characterized by familial aggregation and infl uenced by genetic factors. Results from animal model studies indicate that single genes can markedly infl uence physical activity-related behavior. The fi rst molecular genetic studies on physical activity traits in humans have been published during the last few years. They support the notion that it is possible to detect relatively small, yet biologically important genetic effects impacting the tendency to be sedentary or habitual physical activity at the molecular level. We are beginning to appreciate that in utero environment and epigenetic events may play a role in postnatal physiology and behavior but their impact on physical inactivity or physical activity level remains to be determined. The complete article appears in the June 2006 issue of the President s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest. The Research Digest is published four times a year and includes manuscripts related to physical activity and health. Articles are available free through the Presidentʼs Council on Physical Fitness and Sports at http://www.fi tness.gov/pcpfs_research_digs.htm

A Social Cognitive Perspective of Physical Activity Related Behavior in Physical Education

The purpose of the current study was to examine student and teacher physical activity-related behavior using the theory of planned behavior and self-efficacy theory. Although teachers reported an overwhelmingly positive attitude toward teaching physical activity lessons to promote fitness development, they only devoted 4% of their class time to actually demonstrating and promoting fitness. Students were quite sedentary during class spending 61% of class time sitting, standing or lying down. Using hierarchical regression analyses, teachers’ attitudes toward teaching physically active physical education classes accounted for 50% of the variance in teachers’ intention. Teachers who demonstrated/promoted fitness and who limited their general instruction and management of students were more likely to have students involved in moderate to vigorous physical activity than teachers who spent less time demonstrating/promoting fitness and more time in general instruction and management.

A Prospective Study on Changes of Cognitions, Interpersonal Influences, and Physical Activity in Taiwanese Youth

The decline of physical activity during adolescence is not well understood. This prospective study followed 969 Taiwanese students from eighth to ninth grade and examined their physical activity-related cognitions, interpersonal influences, and behavior of physical activity across the grade transition. Gender differences were found in the effects of the grade transition on physical activity and its related cognitions. The correlation coefficients showed moderate tracking for physical activity, cognitions, and interpersonal influences for both genders. The results also indicated that cognitions are more stable than behavior. The present study provides evidence of the decline in physical activity in Taiwanese youth across the grade transition as well as gender differences in the variables cognitions and interpersonal influences.

Lectures and Symposia

The decline of physical activity during adolescence is not well understood. This prospective study followed 969 Taiwanese students from eighth to ninth grade and examined their physical activity-related cognitions, interpersonal influences, and behavior of physical activity across the grade transition. Gender differences were found in the effects of the grade transition on physical activity and its related cognitions. The correlation coefficients showed moderate tracking for physical activity, cognitions, and interpersonal influences for both genders. The results also indicated that cognitions are more stable than behavior. The present study provides evidence of the decline in physical activity in Taiwanese youth across the grade transition as well as gender differences in the variables cognitions and interpersonal influences.

Forging trandisciplinary bridges to meet the physical inactivity challenge in the 21st century

1. Building consensus on specific definitions of concepts that are key to developing better behavioral prediction and intervention development in the physical activity arena. Leading scientists in the physical activity intervention field both conceptualize as well as operationalize concepts such as “moderators,” “mediators,” and “confounders” differently. This gap widens further when scientists from other fields (e.g., urban planning, transportation) are brought into the discussion. A concrete “next step” may be to convene a consensus conference aimed at developing specific construct definitions that then could be regularly applied in the field. In addition, new statistical methods are being developed 1 which could benefit the physical activity behavioral epidemiology and intervention fields with respect to broadening measurement and analysis of physical activity-related behavior and interventions.

Psychosocial aspects of Costa Rican adolescents' eating and physical activity patterns.

To determine the importance of some psychosocial aspects on the eating and physical activity patterns of Costa Rican adolescents. A total of 1200 adolescents were included in the study. Data were collected using a self-administered instrument containing the following elements: questions to elicit demographic information and five sections with several items (stated as positive or negative behaviors) to study the influence of peers, parents, social environment, body image, and self-efficacy on five target behaviors, intake of foods rich in saturated fats, calcium, and iron, along with consumption of fruits and vegetables and physical activity practices. Data were analyzed using a factor analysis with main component extraction and varimax rotation, along with multiple regression analyses. Social environment and peer influence were the major factors that predict behaviors associated with the intake of foods rich in saturated fat. Meanwhile, parental and social environment influences were the main factors in explaining the fruit and vegetable intake-related behaviors. Self-efficacy was a significant predictor of behaviors associated with physical activity. Body image influence was an important variable associated with all the behaviors analyzed. Multiple regression analyses suggest that the fathers' educational level, the adolescents' age, being female, and living in a rural area may have positive influence on the behaviors studied; however, the overall R(2) for all regression models was quite small (<.03). Most of the variability in adolescents' food intake and physical activity-related behaviors remained unexplained by the demographic variables included in the study. Nevertheless, the results suggest that promotion of health programs built on the influence of social environment, peers and family members, and self-efficacy may have a positive impact on the adolescents' food and physical activity patterns. However, the clear definition of which psychosocial aspect(s) strongly influence the behavior to be modified, is essential for designing an intervention that is properly directed at the correct target.