The present study investigates the effect of obesity and overweight on children's cognitive abilities and well-being using survey data from West Bank schools. The results show the significant adverse impact of obesity on a child's well-being by raising externalizing (behavioral) problems and increasing the probability of classifying a child with…

This cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the self-perception of primary school students aged 10-14 and their attitudes toward obese children (n = 693). There was a weak, positive, and highly significant correlation between the mean scores for the overall Attitude Toward Obese Children Scale, the Self-Perception Profile for…

Childhood obesity and its repercussions will be one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Promoting physical activity and preventing the decline of children's fitness and the increase of childhood obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease therefore need to be a high priority. So far, besides a few large-scale…

Evidence is building regarding the association between inadequate amounts of sleep and the risk of obesity, especially in younger children. Less is known about the relationship between change in sleep and change in weight during adolescence. The objective of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between change in sleep duration…

This quantitative causal comparative study looked to see if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement. Because of the many conflicting results in the research available, it was not known if there was a relationship between childhood obesity and student achievement among inner-city middle school students in a school…

School-based body mass index (BMI) notification programs are often used to raise parental awareness of childhood overweight and obesity, but how BMI results are associated with physical fitness and diet is less clear. This study examined the relationship between BMI, fitness, and diet quality in a diverse sample of urban schoolchildren…

The Central Texas Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) Middle School Project is a 3.5-year school-based project aimed at promoting physical activity (PA), healthy eating, and obesity prevention among public middle school students in Texas. This article describes the CATCH intervention model and presents baseline findings from spring 2009.…

There is growing concern regarding childhood obesity and its impact on children's health, and many states and school districts have mandated that health assessments be conducted as part of physical education. Tools such as the FITNESSGRAM[R] can help teachers inform students and parents if students are above a healthy weight range. The FITNESSGRAM…

Objective: Examine after-school activity patterns, eating behaviors, and social environment of overweight and normal weight middle school students. Design: Eating and physical activity behaviors of 141 students, ages 10-14, were monitored. Students completed a diary documenting type of activity, location, adult supervision, accompanying…

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the self-efficacy for healthy eating and physical activity measure (SE-HEPA) for preadolescents. Method. The reliability of the measure was examined to determine if the internal consistency of the measure was adequate (i.e., [alpha]s greater than 0.70). Next, in an…

A total of 137 third- through eighth-grade students were asked to respond to a series of statements concerning 6 male peers described as having various undesirable characteristics (i.e., poor student, poor athlete, extremely overweight, extremely aggressive, extremely shy, or having the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). The…

One of the most critical public concerns in the United States is the rapid increase in childhood obesity, partly due to the social and environmental changes (e.g., excessive TV and computer use, pressures of standardized testing, etc.) in the past few decades, which has resulted in less physical activity in school children's daily routines.…

Background: Childhood obesity has been linked with other persistent health problems, but research is just beginning to examine its relationship with academic performance. This article tracks students longitudinally to examine the ways student physical fitness and changes in fitness align with school performance. Methods: Using matched…

The purpose of this study was to validate physical activity time in middle school physical education as measured by pedometers in relation to a criterion measure, namely, students' accelerometer determined moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants were 155 sixth to eighth graders participating in regularly scheduled physical…

The objective is to examine school-level program and policy characteristics and student-level behavioural characteristics associated with being overweight. Multilevel logistic regression analysis were used to examine the school- and student-level characteristics associated with the odds of a student being overweight among 1264 Grade 5-8 students…