Background: The pediatric obesity epidemic has intensified the awareness of decreased physical activity and increased sedentary behavior as a major pubic health concern. While the research clearly shows ethnic disparities in obesity risk, very few have examined ethnic differences in physical activity. Most of these studies conducted were in ...
Purpose: Physical education (PE), exergaming, recess, lunch recess, and after-school segment are important avenues that may contribute to children's physical activity (PA) time each day. However, the contributions of the school-based and after-school segments to children’s daily PA levels remain unclear. Therefore, this study was designed to quantify the ...
Purpose: To compare the effect of traditional (stable) and non-traditional (dynamic) school furniture, designed to allow increased low amplitude movement while remaining in a seated position, on children’s physical activity (PA), energy expenditure, information retention, and math skills Methods: Participants were 12 students (8.3 yrs, 58% boys) in grades 1 - 6. Children participated ...
Background: Previous research has shown that children are not getting the recommended amount of physical activity (PA) at school. This may be due to a lack of motivation, not having the opportunity, or not enjoying the activities available. Improving the PA levels during school can help reverse the trend of ...
Purpose: Objectively measuring physical activity in children is often impractical; thus self-report methods are frequently used but may not be valid for determination of physical activity intensity. This study examined the accuracy and validity of the Block Kids Physical Activity Screener (PAS) for estimating moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) ...
Background: The physical activity guidelines for Americans call for children and adolescents to participate in 60 minutes of MVPA daily. For most children, especially those with low socioeconomic status (SES), the school environment has been identified as the best suited to provide MVPA opportunities. Purpose: To examine the time spent ...
Background: Children’s physical activity is often intermittent and sporadic. Shorter accelerometer epochs (e.g., 5 vs. 60 s) amplify children’s time spent at higher activity count-defined intensities; however, it remains unknown how accelerometer-determined estimates of time spent and steps accumulated within incremental cadence (steps/min) bands may be infl...
Background: It has been reported that mother-daughter relationship can influence psychosocial variables such as physical activity (PA) self-efficacy in Caucasian girls. Currently, there is very little data on the impact of African-American girls’ perception of their relationship with their mother and psychosocial variables. Purpose: To examine the association ...
Background: The development of childhood obesity has been linked to chronic energy surplus due to poor dietary habits and inadequate physical activity (PA). Researchers have suggested that a sustained increase in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) can help reduce the prevalence of obesity by correcting for the energy surplus. Changes in US ...
Background: Physical activity (PA) and motor ability (MA) are linked and essential components for everyday life. If PA decreases there will be fewer occasions that the child can practice MA skills. This may decrease PA levels furthermore. Thus, lower levels of PA are likely to increase BMI and fatness levels ...