ABSTRACT Introduction: Physical activity is essential for good health. Globally the majority of p... more ABSTRACT Introduction: Physical activity is essential for good health. Globally the majority of people do not meet minimum physical activity recommendations required for the maintenance of good health and the avoidance of chronic disease. Physical activity habits during young adulthood are likely to substantially influence lifelong physical activity habits throughout life, and as a consequence, have significant implications for long term health outcomes. Methods: Health and exercise science students (n=122, 60 males, 62 females) completed the a self-report physical activity assessments at two time points during a tertiary course that focused on public health recommendations for nutrition and physical activity. Results and Discussion: The median minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week was 745mins and 724mins at times 1 and 2 respectively. The proportion of students who met weekly physical activity recommendations for total minutes was 99.2% and 95.9% at times 1 and 2 respectively. The proportion meeting recommendations for both total minutes and total session was 96.7% and 95.1% at times 1 and 2 respectively. This is a much greater proportion than for the same age group in the general population. Results did not vary significantly between time points, indicating that the activity may not have been a product of course participation. Conclusion: The personal salience of physical activities is likely to be an important factor in the determination of activity levels and patterns. Students enrolled in health-related university courses, or ones that self select as an elective are already sufficiently physically active, and are not necessarily in need of physical activity promotion measures. However, further research is needed to establish the physical activities of students enrolled in non health-related courses, and whether their behavior can be influenced by similar methods. Policy makers and practitioners should maximize opportunities for people to participate in activities salient to themselves which they are likely to continue through young adulthood and beyond.
Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior (SB) are major public healt... more Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior (SB) are major public health concerns. This study was designed to develop and validate the 7-day Sedentary (S) and Light Intensity Physical Activity (LIPA) Log (7-day SLIPA Log), a self-report measure of specific daily behaviors. To develop the log, 62 specific SB and LIPA behaviors were chosen from the Compendium of Physical Activities. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 32 sedentary volunteers to identify domains and behaviors of SB and LIPA. To validate the log, a further 22 sedentary adults were recruited to wear the GT3x for 7 consecutive days and nights. Pearson correlations (r) between the 7-day SLIPA Log and GT3x were significant for sedentary (r = .86, P < .001), for LIPA (r = .80, P < .001). Lying and sitting postures were positively correlated with GT3x output (r = .60 and r = .64, P < .001, respectively). No significant correlation was found for standing posture (r = .14, P = .53).The...
ABSTRACT Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable behavior impacting a number of importa... more ABSTRACT Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable behavior impacting a number of important health outcomes. The path to developing chronic diseases commonly commences with lifestyle patterns developed during childhood and adolescence. This study examined whether parent physical activity and other factors correlated with physical activity amongst children are associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents. Methods: A total of 115 adolescents (aged 12–14) and their parents completed questionnaire assessments. Self-reported physical activity was measured amongst adolescents and their parents using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (IPAQ-A), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) respectively. Adolescents also completed the Children’s Physical Activity Correlates (CPAC), which measured factors that have previously demonstrated association with physical activity amongst children. To examine whether parent physical activity or items from the CPAC were associated with self-reported adolescent physical activity, backward step-wise regression was undertaken. One item was removed at each step in descending order of significance (until two tailed item alpha=0.05 was achieved). Results: A total of 93 (80.9%) adolescents and their parents had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. Independent variables were removed in the order: perceptions of parental role modeling; importance of exercise; perceptions of parental encouragement; peer acceptance; fun of physical exertion; perceived competence; parent physical activity; self-esteem; liking of exercise; and parental influence. The only variable remaining in the model was ‘liking of games and sport’ (p=0.003, adjusted r-squared=0.085). Discussion: These findings indicate that factors associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents are not necessarily the same as younger children (aged 8–11). While ‘liking of games and sport’ was included in the final model, the r-squared value did not indicate a strong association. Interestingly, parent self-reported physical activity was not included in the final model. It is likely that adolescent physical activity may be influenced by a variety of direct and indirect forms of socialization. These findings do support the view that intrinsically motivated themes such as the liking of games and sport take precedence over outside influences, like those presented by parents, in determining youth physical activity behaviors. These findings do not suggest that parents have no influence on adolescent physical activity patterns, but rather, the influence is likely to be more complex than physical activity behavior modeling perceived by the adolescent. Further research in this field is warranted in order to better understand potential contributors to successful physical activity promotion interventions amongst young adolescents.
ABSTRACT Introduction: Physical activity is essential for good health. Globally the majority of p... more ABSTRACT Introduction: Physical activity is essential for good health. Globally the majority of people do not meet minimum physical activity recommendations required for the maintenance of good health and the avoidance of chronic disease. Physical activity habits during young adulthood are likely to substantially influence lifelong physical activity habits throughout life, and as a consequence, have significant implications for long term health outcomes. Methods: Health and exercise science students (n=122, 60 males, 62 females) completed the a self-report physical activity assessments at two time points during a tertiary course that focused on public health recommendations for nutrition and physical activity. Results and Discussion: The median minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week was 745mins and 724mins at times 1 and 2 respectively. The proportion of students who met weekly physical activity recommendations for total minutes was 99.2% and 95.9% at times 1 and 2 respectively. The proportion meeting recommendations for both total minutes and total session was 96.7% and 95.1% at times 1 and 2 respectively. This is a much greater proportion than for the same age group in the general population. Results did not vary significantly between time points, indicating that the activity may not have been a product of course participation. Conclusion: The personal salience of physical activities is likely to be an important factor in the determination of activity levels and patterns. Students enrolled in health-related university courses, or ones that self select as an elective are already sufficiently physically active, and are not necessarily in need of physical activity promotion measures. However, further research is needed to establish the physical activities of students enrolled in non health-related courses, and whether their behavior can be influenced by similar methods. Policy makers and practitioners should maximize opportunities for people to participate in activities salient to themselves which they are likely to continue through young adulthood and beyond.
Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior (SB) are major public healt... more Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior (SB) are major public health concerns. This study was designed to develop and validate the 7-day Sedentary (S) and Light Intensity Physical Activity (LIPA) Log (7-day SLIPA Log), a self-report measure of specific daily behaviors. To develop the log, 62 specific SB and LIPA behaviors were chosen from the Compendium of Physical Activities. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 32 sedentary volunteers to identify domains and behaviors of SB and LIPA. To validate the log, a further 22 sedentary adults were recruited to wear the GT3x for 7 consecutive days and nights. Pearson correlations (r) between the 7-day SLIPA Log and GT3x were significant for sedentary (r = .86, P < .001), for LIPA (r = .80, P < .001). Lying and sitting postures were positively correlated with GT3x output (r = .60 and r = .64, P < .001, respectively). No significant correlation was found for standing posture (r = .14, P = .53).The...
ABSTRACT Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable behavior impacting a number of importa... more ABSTRACT Background: Physical activity is a key modifiable behavior impacting a number of important health outcomes. The path to developing chronic diseases commonly commences with lifestyle patterns developed during childhood and adolescence. This study examined whether parent physical activity and other factors correlated with physical activity amongst children are associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents. Methods: A total of 115 adolescents (aged 12–14) and their parents completed questionnaire assessments. Self-reported physical activity was measured amongst adolescents and their parents using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (IPAQ-A), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) respectively. Adolescents also completed the Children’s Physical Activity Correlates (CPAC), which measured factors that have previously demonstrated association with physical activity amongst children. To examine whether parent physical activity or items from the CPAC were associated with self-reported adolescent physical activity, backward step-wise regression was undertaken. One item was removed at each step in descending order of significance (until two tailed item alpha=0.05 was achieved). Results: A total of 93 (80.9%) adolescents and their parents had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. Independent variables were removed in the order: perceptions of parental role modeling; importance of exercise; perceptions of parental encouragement; peer acceptance; fun of physical exertion; perceived competence; parent physical activity; self-esteem; liking of exercise; and parental influence. The only variable remaining in the model was ‘liking of games and sport’ (p=0.003, adjusted r-squared=0.085). Discussion: These findings indicate that factors associated with self-reported physical activity in adolescents are not necessarily the same as younger children (aged 8–11). While ‘liking of games and sport’ was included in the final model, the r-squared value did not indicate a strong association. Interestingly, parent self-reported physical activity was not included in the final model. It is likely that adolescent physical activity may be influenced by a variety of direct and indirect forms of socialization. These findings do support the view that intrinsically motivated themes such as the liking of games and sport take precedence over outside influences, like those presented by parents, in determining youth physical activity behaviors. These findings do not suggest that parents have no influence on adolescent physical activity patterns, but rather, the influence is likely to be more complex than physical activity behavior modeling perceived by the adolescent. Further research in this field is warranted in order to better understand potential contributors to successful physical activity promotion interventions amongst young adolescents.
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