Youth Physical Health Research Articles

Resilience and mental and physical health of higher and lower educated youth during COVID-19

Abstract Background COVID-19 had a considerable impact on the mental and physical health of youth. To limit the impact of this crisis on their health, resilience was required. This study aims to discover how resilient, in terms of mastery, emotional reactivity and social support, groups of youth with different SES were during COVID-19, and what risk and protective factors they experienced. Methods Two qualitative datasets were analyzed. One dataset included 10 interviews of university students during April-May 2020, and the other dataset included 8 interviews with pre-vocational secondary education adolescents during October 2021 to March 2022. Interviews were held in person or online. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis in Atlas.ti. Results In general, university students displayed resilience despite the tumultuous beginning of the pandemic, and their mental and physical health was positive. Protective factors that helped them during COVID-19 were spending time with friends and family, being healthy and having a healthy lifestyle, and being able to avoid stressful situations. Risk factors that impacted their resilience were loneliness, COVID-19 anxiety, and missing stability and routine. Adolescents receiving pre-vocational secondary education showed mixed resilience later in the COVID-19 period, and they made negative observations about their health. Protective factors that helped them were achieving good results in school, hobbies, and avoiding stressful situations. Risk factors they experienced were lack of motivation and having difficulties at school. They experienced worry about school progress during COVID-19. Conclusions University students and lower educated adolescents seemed to have differing resilience during the impactful stages of COVID-19, possibly due to differences in their psychological development. To protect their well-being, it is important that policy makers consider the protective and risk factors that impact the health of youth during crises. Key messages • Resilience differs among the two different age groups and education levels. • Policy makers should consider the protective and risk factors that impact the health of youth during crises.

Retracted: Construction of a Complex System Based on Big Data for the Intelligent Service System of Youth Physical Health

Retracted: Construction of a Complex System Based on Big Data for the Intelligent Service System of Youth Physical Health

Self-reported Health-related Quality of Life in Adolescents With Cerebral Palsy.

Happiness, comfort, and motor function contribute to satisfaction with life for individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Evidence-based medical care can improve motor function and physical health of youth with CP. Less is known about medical care and its relationship to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescents and young adults with CP. This study aimed to describe HRQOL among adolescents with CP to examine differences between adolescent (self) and parent (proxy) reports of HRQOL and to explore associations of pain, age, and gross motor function with HRQOL. This is a retrospective study including adolescents with CP classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I to V, ages 11 to 20 years, reading ≥ a fourth-grade level, and who completed the self-reported Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI). Parents completed the PODCI concurrently or within 12 months and scores were compared. In addition, self-reported scores were compared between age bands, across Gross Motor Function Classification System levels, with typically developing youth (TDY), and between youth with/without pain. PODCI scores from 102 adolescents [59 males; 15.0 (SD: 2.6) years old] were examined. Scores from 50 adolescents and parents were matched. Mean self-reported scores were significantly higher than mean parent-reported scores in 4 domains: upper extremity and physical function (P=0.018), sports and physical function (P=0.005), happiness (P=0.023), and global functioning (P=0.018). All domains, except Happiness, were significantly < TDY (P<0.01). The presence of pain was associated with lower scores in all domains (P<0.05). Examining HRQOL with the PODCI revealed significant limitations in physical function and higher pain in adolescents with CP compared with TDY. Self- and parent-reported PODCI results should be considered separately. Adolescents report higher HRQOL compared with parent proxy. Recognizing and validating the perspectives of youth and their parents presents an opportunity for providers to discuss different points of view with families. Such engagement can help promote self-efficacy in youth with CP as they transition to the responsibility of guiding their own care in adulthood. III, Retrospective comparative study.

Changes in stress intensity associated with gastrointestinal health in students population during the COVID-19 lockdown

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions from routine life habits had a tremendous impact on psychological and physical health of youth. It is known that stress, anxiety and depression can be associated with the development of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and known to exacerbate present GI symptoms. The pandemic has forced many changes in the behavior of student population such as the studying in an asocial environment. The aim of this study was to examine and quantify the influence of stress onto the quality of life and GI symptoms in the student population in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&amp;H), before and during the pandemic lockdown. Methods: A total of 279 students from B&amp;H were assessed for their GI and emotional status in pre-COVID period and during the COVID period using validated instruments: GI symptom rating scale (GSRS), Visceral Sensitivity Index, and the Patient Health Questionnaire 15-item Somatic Symptom Severity Scale. Results: The results showed that moderate and severe GI symptoms were more frequently present among student population at the time of the pandemic than in period before pandemic. The most pronounced symptoms were bloating syndrome and abdominal pain syndrome according to the GSRS. Conclusions: We concluded that concern for one’s health and changed way of life are directly related to a worsening of the symptoms of GI disorders in the student population. Further research should go in the direction of early prevention of GI disorders that take root in early youth and later develop into chronic forms.

Research on Adolescent Physical Health Policy Change – Based on Discontinuous Equilibrium Theory

Based on the punctuated equilibrium theory, this paper explains the internal mechanism of the policy change of adolescents' physical health. The study found that the youth physical health policy presents an evolution from equilibrium to intermittent to long-term equilibrium. When the policy landscape is relatively stable, the policy will undergo gradual fine-tuning. When the policy landscape cannot adapt to the external environment, the policy will change. . The study not only verified the applicability of the punctuated equilibrium theory for adolescent physical health policies, but also made a Chinese revision of the punctuated equilibrium theory, and provided enlightenment for the decision-making practice of adolescent physical health.

Research on Constraints and Alleviation Paths of Youth Physical Health Promotion in the Perspective of a Sports Power Country

Research on Constraints and Alleviation Paths of Youth Physical Health Promotion in the Perspective of a Sports Power Country

Application of Decision Tree Intelligent Algorithm in Data Analysis of Physical Health Test.

With the continuous development of China's cultural industry, people's health has become one of the topics of the highest concern. Therefore, all the application models of physical health test data in the actual analysis have become the current research focus and trend direction of healthy constitution. This paper summarizes the significant problems in the analysis of physical health test data, through the comprehensive analysis and investigation of physical health test data, combined with the measurement of the test indicators, through the analysis and processing system of youth physical health data, the use process of national youth group physical health standard data management software, and decision tree intelligent algorithm in physical health. The research steps of test data analysis and application model summarize the application characteristics of physical health test data in the application process. Based on this, a decision tree intelligent algorithm is proposed, and the corresponding functions and optimization formulas of the algorithm are substituted. In the process of actual sample checking calculation, each weight range and corresponding errors are inferred and analyzed by combining examples. This paper summarizes the application model and optimization model of health test data analysis based on decision tree intelligent algorithm. Through the repeated test of the research data, the feasible area and application scope of the algorithm are obtained, and the practical optimization scheme and application ideas under the algorithm are obtained.

Effect of Caregiver Depressive Symptoms on the Concordance Between Caregiver and Youth Assessment of Youth Physical Health.

To explore how caregivers' (birth parents, adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and unrelated caregivers) depressive symptoms moderate the concordance between their and their youth's assessment of the youth's physical health symptoms, diseases, and physical health status. Participants included 224 youth with mean age of 18.0years (SD = 1.3) and their caregivers. Multiple-group models were run to test whether caregiver depression status moderated the concordance between youth and caregiver report of physical health outcomes. Models compared caregivers above the mean for depression in the sample (n = 62) with caregivers below the mean for depression in this sample (n = 128). There was a strong correlation between youth and caregiver report of pain in the last 30days and physical health status in the caregiver group with no/fewer depressive symptoms [r (128) = 0.29, p = 0.04; r (128) = 0.59, p < 0.01], but no significant correlation between the two in the caregiver group with higher depressive symptoms [r (62) = - 0.27, p = 0.27; r (62) = - 0.14, p = 0.57]. Higher caregiver depressive symptoms was associated with worse concordance between caregiver and youth assessment of the youth's pain and physical health status. These two health issues are less visible and more subjective and communication between caregiver and youth may be affected by the caregiver's depressive symptoms. Since both caregiver and youth assessments of a youth's physical health provide the best clinical data, it may be helpful for health providers to assess caregiver's mental health status to provide a more complete picture.

Empirical Study on Theories and Techniques of Adolescent Physical Health Promotion under the Background of Big Data

In order to make my country’s youth health management more scientific, more standardized, and more effective, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the management of youth physical health promotion. Through the investigation and analysis of the physical health data of adolescents in my country, this paper proposes that the results of health intervention training as part of the empirical research on the construction of adolescent health big data management service system can effectively improve the relationship hypothesis of the physical health of adolescents and by selecting the example of our country’s “Adolescent Physical Health Data Analysis in 2020” for regression analysis. The research results show that the theory of adolescent physical health promotion can improve the physical health of adolescents by interfering with students’ physical exercise. In the processing of data, GBDT is suitable when the training set is relatively large, and as the sample size increases, the accuracy rate can reach 79.79%. In terms of the classification accuracy of male sitting forward bending promotion, the accuracy of the RF method is higher than that of GBDT. In terms of the promotion classification effect of boys’ 1000 m running, the RF method achieved the highest promotion accuracy rate of 77.62%. In the male pull-ups to promote the classification effect, when the proportion of the training set is 60%, the RF method gets the highest accuracy rate, which is 92.04%. The results of the classification effect for girls standing long jump promotion show that the classification accuracy rate for girls standing long jump promotion is between 51% and 56%. When the training set is less than 60%, the RF method is the best, the highest is 53.93%, and the rest is the GBDT method, the highest is 55.46%; in Macro-F1, the RF and GBDT indicators have their own advantages. In the promotion of the classification effect on the final fitness level of girls, the accuracy rates of RF and GBDT methods range from 90% to 96%, and the accuracy rates of the NN method range from 80% to 87%; when the practice rate reaches 80%, the GBDT method achieves the highest accuracy rate of 95.06%; on the Macro-F1 index, the GBDT method is obviously the best.

Innovative research on the construction of China’s youth physical health promotion service system based on sensor technology

Innovative research on the construction of China’s youth physical health promotion service system based on sensor technology

Nonresidential Father Psychological Support and Offspring Physical Health Perceptions 15‐Years After Parental Divorce

We evaluated the long‐term impact of father supportive behaviors post‐divorce on youth physical health perceptions, mediated through youth's protective resources. Youth (N = 240; 49% female, 88% Caucasian) reported on father supportive behaviors post‐divorce four times (between ages 9–12), protective resources once (age 15–19), and perceptions of physical health at age 24–28. Higher father support behaviors predicted more protective resources in adolescence which predicted better perceived health in young adulthood. Father support post‐divorce can have long‐term benefits for offspring health by promoting child‐level protective resources.

THE PATH OF IMPROVING CHINESE YOUTH'S PHYSICAL HEALTH FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PUBLIC SPORTS SERVICE

ABSTRACT Teenagers are the future of our country, and their physical health has a great impact on the economic and social development of our country. In view of this, this study applied questionnaire survey, analytic hierarchy and situation analysis to construct the evaluation index system and hierarchical structure model of youth physical health promotion path, and used empirical analysis to analyze and deal with the key factors in the index system. The results show that the coordinates are (0.648, 0.648, 0.648, 654) located in the first quadrant, which indicates that the external opportunities and internal advantages have a high degree of matching; the effect of youth physical health management under the government mechanism is poor, but youth physical health management under the market mechanism needs to be established. The internal advantages of youth physical health management are relatively large, and the public management service market has great potential, and the market-oriented health construction. It is hoped that this study can provide certain reference for the improvement of Chinese teenagers' physical health.

Federal, State, and Local Immigrant-Related Policies and Child Health Outcomes: a Systematic Review.

The passage of US immigrant-related policies at the federal, state, and local level is on the rise. These policies may affect child health through several mechanisms. We performed a systematic review of English-language, peer-reviewed, quantitative studies examining US immigrant-related policies and the mental and physical health of youth in immigrant families. We searched PubMed and five social science databases for studies published between 1986 and 2019. Two independent reviewers screened the studies and appraised study quality. Of the final 17 studies, ten studies examined birth outcomes and seven studies examined other outcomes in childhood and adolescence (e.g., self-rated health). Generally, exclusionary policies were associated with worse health outcomes and inclusive policies were associated with better health outcomes. Several studies did not observe an association, but only one study found an association of the opposite direction. In that study, similar trends in different policy environments and across foreign-born and US-born women suggest alternative causes for the observed association. Overall, we find that exclusionary policies are, at best, neutral, but likely harmful towards child wellbeing, while inclusive policies can be beneficial.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40615-021-00978-w.

Construction of a Complex System Based on Big Data for the Intelligent Service System of Youth Physical Health

The progress of social economy has created a better environment for the healthy development of young people, but the heavy schoolwork and life pressure have caused many students to ignore the scientific management of physical health. At this stage, people need a scientific physical health service system to help students understand their own health data, propose targeted exercise methods and health knowledge, and actively encourage and guide students to participate in physical exercise. The purpose of this article is to cultivate students’ good self-exercise awareness and improve their physical fitness and health. To this end, this article has designed a smart health service system for young people. This article introduces the various service functions in the health management service system and explains in detail the entry, induction, and analysis of student physical health data in the system. The essence of the health intelligent service system is to provide students with targeted healthy exercise strategies through data analysis. This paper studies the health intervention plan of the health intelligent service system. From the experimental data, the improved particle swarm algorithm in this paper increases the effectiveness of the system in adolescent health data mining from 80.5% to 92.19%, which undoubtedly optimizes the system. It helps a lot.

The reciprocal effects of physical activity and happiness in adolescents

BackgroundPositive associations exist between physical activity and happiness in adolescents. However, previous studies have mostly used self-reported measures and cross-sectional designs. There is a need for more insight into the directionality and duration of this association. The current study was the first to investigate whether an increase in physical activity leads to happiness and whether adolescents become more physically active when they are happier. These two effects were studied between (on a day-to-day basis) and within days (on an hour-to-hour basis).MethodsThe study used data from the MyMovez project in which 1484 adolescents between the ages of 8 and 17 years wore an accelerometer on their wrist and answered experience sampling questions on happiness at random moments during the day for several weeks in 2016–2018.ResultsThe preregistered analyses demonstrated an association between physical activity and happiness. More specifically, the number of steps per day predicted the experienced happiness on that day. In addition, a short-term reciprocal effect of physical activity and happiness was observed. Happiness was predicted by the number of steps accumulated in the previous hour and it also predicted the number of steps accumulated in the subsequent hour. However, convincing evidence was found that these effects did not occur in the long-term between days. The number of steps on the previous day did not predict happiness, nor did happiness predict the number of steps of the subsequent day.ConclusionsThis study confirms an association between physical activity and happiness in adolescents and shows that in the short-term, physical activity promotes happiness and vice versa. Therefore, we conclude that physical activity is not only important for the physical health of youth, but also plays an important role in their mental well-being. In addition, this knowledge can be used to further understand the importance of physical activity in adolescents’ health and help in promoting a healthy lifestyle among youth.Trial registrationThe data used are stored at the Data Archiving and Networked Services (https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zz9-gn44). Hypotheses, study design, sample, data collection procedure, measured variables, and plan of analysis were preregistered on the Open Science Framework (OSF, https://osf.io/5yk7r/).

Innovative research on the construction of China’s youth physical health promotion service system based on sensor technology1

There is a certain correlation between human health and actual exercise. This has always been one of the focuses of many scholars. When analyzing the movement of human body, a lot of modern technology and equipment need to be used. In order to better realize the physical health of young people in our country, the health service system based on sensor technology has been put forward. By introducing accelerometer technology, real-time data capture and analysis of human motion posture and movement trajectory were carried out. At the same time, the reliability of the algorithm was improved. In order to verify the feasibility of the method, a practical case was verified. Experimental results showed that the method was more scientific and reasonable in motion capture analysis.

PSYCHEMERGE: LEVERAGING ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND CHRONIC DISEASE

Considerable evidence documents the linkages between higher levels of parental knowledge about youth activities and positive youth outcomes. This study investigated how day-to-day inconsistency in parental knowledge of youth activities was linked to youth behavioral, psychological, and physical health and parents' stress.Participants were employees in the Information Technology Division of a Fortune 500 company and their children (N = 129, mean age of youth = 13.39 years, 55% female). Data were collected from parents and youth via separate workplace and in-home surveys as well as telephone diary surveys on eight consecutive evenings. We assessed day-to-day inconsistency in parental knowledge across these eight calls.Parents differed in their knowledge from day to day almost as much as their average knowledge scores differed from those of other parents. Controlling for mean levels of knowledge, youth whose parents exhibited more knowledge inconsistency reported more physical health symptoms (e.g., colds and flu). Knowledge inconsistency was also associated with more risky behavior for girls but greater psychological well-being for older adolescents. Parents who reported more stressors also had higher knowledge inconsistency.Assessing only average levels of parental knowledge does not fully capture how this parenting dimension is associated with youth health. Consistent knowledge may promote youth physical health and less risky behavior for girls. Yet knowledge inconsistency also may reflect normative increases in autonomy as it was positively associated with psychological well-being for older adolescents. Given the linkages between parental stress and knowledge inconsistency, parent interventions should include stress management components.

Parental Educational Attainment and Chronic Medical Conditions among American Youth; Minorities’ Diminished Returns

Background: Parental educational attainment is protective against chronic medical conditions (CMCs). According to the minorities’ diminished returns (MDRs) theory, however, the health effects of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators are smaller for socially marginalized groups such as racial and ethnic minorities rather than Whites. Aims: To explore racial and ethnic differences in the effect of parental educational attainment on CMCs in a nationally representative sample of American youth. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used baseline data of 10,701 12–17 years old youth in the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH; 2013). Parental educational attainment was the independent variable. The dependent variable was the number of CMCs in youth. Age, gender, and family structure were covariates. Race and ethnicity were the focal moderators. Linear and multinomial regression were applied to analyze the data. Results: Overall, higher parental educational attainment was associated with a lower number of CMCs. Race and ethnicity, however, showed significant interactions with parental educational attainment on a number of CMCs as well as 2+ CMCs, suggesting that the effect of parenting educational attainment on CMCs is significantly smaller for Black and Hispanic than White youth. Conclusions: In the United States, race and ethnicity alter the health gains that are expected to follow parental educational attainment. While White youth who are from highly educated families are most healthy, Black and Hispanic youth from highly educated families remain at higher risk for CMCs. That means, while the most socially privileged group, Whites, gain the most health from their parental education, Blacks and Hispanics, the least privileged groups, gain the least. The result is a disproportionately high number of CMCs in middle-class Blacks and Hispanics. Economic, social, public, and health policy makers should be aware that health disparities are not all due to lower SES of the disadvantaged group but also diminished returns of SES resources for them. Youth physical health disparities due to race and ethnicity exist across all SES levels.

Health Outcomes of Youth in the United States Exposed to Parental Incarceration: An Integrative Review.

The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize recent quantitative evidence investigating the effects of PI on youths' mental and physical health outcomes. Electronic strategies were used to find relevant quantitative articles published between September 2006 and 2016 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-Equity guidelines. Articles in the review (N = 17) varied in study design and methodologic rigor, complicating the analysis. In general, U.S. youth exposed to PI are more likely than their unexposed peers to exhibit internalizing and externalizing behavioral difficulties. There is substantially less evidence on the associations between PI and the physical health of youth, in addition to the proposed linkages between exposure to PI and poor health. Overall, there is limited inclusion of contextual specifics of PI (e.g., type and duration of incarceration, relationship quality), which hampers generalizability. Future research could investigate the biological and social linkages between PI and health outcomes. Forensic nurses could help build supportive environments and meaningful behavioral health interventions to assist the health of those youth with a parent incarcerated.

Effect of aerobic exercises on students’ physical health indicators

Summary Objectives The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of 12-week aerobic exercises on both weight index and indicators of cardiovascular endurance. An increasingly passive life-style of students has led to a growth in health related disorders. Complex aerobic exercises are regarded as a kind of activity affecting youth physical health. Equipment and methods Maximum heart rate and maximum oxygen consumption were measured. Participants included 1180 17–21 aged students from five universities in Anqing and Hefei municipalities, China. Cardiovascular endurance indicators were defined by the using Quinn steps exercise. Each student stepped up and down for about 5 minutes and after that heart beats were measured for about 20 seconds from the carotid region. Students’ health indicators were defined twice before and after the exercises. Results MHR decreased to 159.8 bpm for boys (from 164.1 bpm) and 160.2 bpm for girls (164.8 bpm at the beginning of the experiment). As for VO2max, it increased by 1.4 (from 43.6 to 45) and 2.1 (from 41.6 to 43.7) mL/kg/min for boys and girls respectively.