To prospectively examine potential benefits of active commuting to school on measures of weight status and physical activity in a sample of youth.A cohort of students from seven elementary schools was measured four times--in the fall and spring of fourth grade (N = 1083) and fifth grade (N = 924). Participants were classified as active (walking, biking, or skateboarding to school almost every day for baseline analyses or at least 2 d/wk for analyses of consistent active commuting) or non-active commuters to school. Accelerometers were used to measure physical activity. Height, weight, and skinfolds were objectively assessed.Boys who actively commuted to school had lower BMI (p < 0.01) and skinfolds (p < 0.05) than non-active commuters to school in the fourth grade. Active commuting to school over 2 years was not associated with BMI change or overweight status.Walking and cycling to school may contribute to preventing excessive weight gain, or leaner children may walk or cycle to school.
This paper reviews the relevant pediatric literature about blood pressure (BP) hyperreactivity to stress as a possible precursor of hypertension and coronary heart disease. Two prospective studies of children indicate that BP hyperreactivity predicts later development of hypertension. Several studies have identified correlates of BP reactivity. Race, obesity, Type A and family history of hypertension appear to be associated with BP reactivity in children. There appear to be both genetic and environmental influences, but relatively few psychosocial variables have been studied. There are significant methodological concerns in terms of defining the characteristics of the stressors and the stability and generalizability of responses to laboratory stressors. BP reactivity in children is a potentially important area of inquiry that has been understudied.
Two mediated smoking cessation programs were subjected to a field evaluation. The Quit Kit is a printed self-help package, and “Calling It Quits” consists of five segments which were aired on the local television news. A sample of 239 persons requested the Quit Kit and were followed. At the 2-month follow-ups, respectively, 13.6% and 17.9% of those surveyed reported abstinence. Results indicate the potential of mediated interventions.
International groups have recommended environmental and policy changes as central strategies in efforts to increase physical activity worldwide. Research is needed to guide policy actions, but built environment and physical activity is a relatively new research topic that initially was conducted in just a few countries. The generalizability of findings cannot be assumed across countries with distinct environments and cultures. Initial findings, mainly from studies of North America and Australia, indicated that walkable community designs were related to active transportation, and proximity to parks was related to active recreation. In recent years, those general findings have mainly been supported in studies from Japan, Europe, and South America. Evidence to date indicates there may be generalizable principles about how to build communities that facilitate people being active for transportation and recreation purposes. Country-specific studies are needed to inform local decision making in city planning, transportation, parks, education, and health departments/ministries. Coordinated international studies are needed to guide international actions to reduce the epidemics of physical inactivity and chronic diseases.
Background Streetscape (microscale) features of the built environment can influence people’s perceptions of their neighborhoods’ suitability for physical activity. Many microscale audit tools have been developed, but few have published systematic scoring methods. We present the development, scoring, and reliability of the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS) tool and its theoretically-based subscales. Methods MAPS was based on prior instruments and was developed to assess details of streetscapes considered relevant for physical activity. MAPS sections (route, segments, crossings, and cul-de-sacs) were scored by two independent raters for reliability analyses. There were 290 route pairs, 516 segment pairs, 319 crossing pairs, and 53 cul-de-sac pairs in the reliability sample. Individual inter-rater item reliability analyses were computed using Kappa, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and percent agreement. A conceptual framework for subscale creation was developed using theory, expert consensus, and policy relevance. Items were grouped into subscales, and subscales were analyzed for inter-rater reliability at tiered levels of aggregation. Results There were 160 items included in the subscales (out of 201 items total). Of those included in the subscales, 80 items (50.0%) had good/excellent reliability, 41 items (25.6%) had moderate reliability, and 18 items (11.3%) had low reliability, with limited variability in the remaining 21 items (13.1%). Seventeen of the 20 route section subscales, valence (positive/negative) scores, and overall scores (85.0%) demonstrated good/excellent reliability and 3 demonstrated moderate reliability. Of the 16 segment subscales, valence scores, and overall scores, 12 (75.0%) demonstrated good/excellent reliability, three demonstrated moderate reliability, and one demonstrated poor reliability. Of the 8 crossing subscales, valence scores, and overall scores, 6 (75.0%) demonstrated good/excellent reliability, and 2 demonstrated moderate reliability. The cul-de-sac subscale demonstrated good/excellent reliability. Conclusions MAPS items and subscales predominantly demonstrated moderate to excellent reliability. The subscales and scoring system represent a theoretically based framework for using these complex microscale data and may be applicable to other similar instruments.
The factorial validity and measurement equivalence/invariance of scales used to measure social-cognitive correlates of physical activity among adolescent girls were examined.
