Background: The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was used by a city school district (approximately 11,000 students) in the upper Midwest to monitor trends for nutrition and physical activity (PA) behaviors both within and between years and to compare with national 2003 data. Methods: Independent random samples were obtained in 1999 (387 middle…

Sedentary living is a serious global public health problem that is associated with numerous preventable diseases. Schools are in a position to be the most cost-effective public resource to combat inactivity. In schools physical educators are positioned to be the strongest advocates of a healthy, active lifestyle. To effectively promote physical…

Objectives: To examine social disparities and behavioral correlates of overweight and obesity over time among college students. Methods: Multilevel analyses of BMI, physical activity, and television viewing from 2 representative surveys of US college students (n=24,613). Results: Overweight and obesity increased over time and were higher among…

This offers advice on the health benefits of regular physical activity. It includes a scientifically proven fitness test to determine one's starting point and monitor ongoing progress, offering step-by-step instructions, sample programs, and insights on nutrition, weight control, motivation, and overcoming setbacks. Seven chapters examine: (1)…

Focus group interviews assessed African American teens' and adults' (ages 13 to 65-plus) perceptions and beliefs about exercise. Many subjects believed that African Americans performed physical labor at work and needed rest rather than exercise during free time. Many considered exercise a physical stressor and believed friends had the greatest…

Evaluated barriers to participation in physical activity by American Indian elementary school students. Data from interviews, observations, and surveys indicated that barriers at school included lack of facilities, equipment, and trained staff people for physical education. Weather conditions, safety concerns, and homework/chores were also…

Parents are believed to play a role in influencing their children's health behaviours. This longitudinal study of two generations (parents and their children) examined associations between parents' self-reported leisure-time physical activity changes and the self-reported physical activity changes of their offspring in a sample of 557 adolescents…

Objective: To explore 2 major components of health behavior research, etiologic research and action research. To argue that action research is both an artistic as well as scientific process. Methods: Review of the development process of effective health behavior programs with youth. Review of literature on art as part of the scientific process,…

Over the past forty years various changes in the U.S. "built environment" have promoted sedentary lifestyles and less healthful diets. James Sallis and Karen Glanz investigate whether these changes have had a direct effect on childhood obesity and whether improvements to encourage more physical activity and more healthful diets are likely to lower…

The aims of this study were to: (a) compare physical activity across two seasons and, within those seasons, across school and vacation time, and (b) compare the proportion of children meeting the activity thresholds recommended by Tudor-Locke et al. (2004) at each time point. Thirty-six boys, between the ages of 8 and 10 years (M age = 8.8 years,…

This study examined the reliability and validity of the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) vigorous physical activity (VPA), moderate physical activity (MPA), flexibility (FLEX), and muscular strength and/or endurance (MSE) questions. Twenty college students completed the four items twice during the same day. During the next 7…

In this article, the authors provide some practical actions, which physical education teachers can initiate to increase the activity levels of children by engaging them in fun physical activities outside of physical education class, that would help meet the guidelines developed by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).…

Background: This study examined physical activity opportunities and barriers at 36 geographically diverse middle schools participating in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls. Methods: Principals, physical education and health education department heads, and program leaders were interviewed to assess policies and instructional practices that…

This study examined cardiovascular risk factors in Black first-year college students (N=238). Students completed surveys about blood pressure, cholesterol level, smoking, and physical activity. Results found low rates of high blood pressure, low awareness of cholesterol levels, and low numbers of students who smoked. Females had lower physical…

Reports a study that examined the utility of health and exercise locus of control and health and exercise value in predicting exercise behavior in 86 adults. Survey results indicated that exercise locus of control was a better predictor of exercise behavior than a more general measure of health locus of control. (Author/SM)