Various models and methods have been proposed to address the worldwide decline in children's and youth's physical fitness, and the social-ecological model has shown some promise. Yet, the impact of the policy intervention, one component of that model, has not been evaluated carefully. Using limited data from policy documents, the impact of policy…

In 2015, the United States Congress replaced the "No Child Left Behind Elementary and Secondary Act" with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (P.L. 114-95), which identifies health and physical education as key components of a well-rounded education (Cooper, Greenberg, Castelli, Barton, Martin & Morrow, 2016). This followed a…

This paper takes on a different address to youth fitness testing from previous literature by applying a cross-cultural comparison of youth fitness testing in both the US and China. Utilizing a modified version of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model, the chronosystem (historical evolution over time), and macrosystem (social and cultural vantage…

Children who are unhealthy are at higher risk for school problems than students who are free from medical problems. Students with poor health have a higher probability of school failure, grade retention, and dropout. The relationship between student health and academic success is complex. Common manageable factors of student health are nutrition,…

Growth, maturation, and development dominate the daily lives of children and adolescents for approximately the first 2 decades of life. Growth and maturation are biological processes, while development is largely a behavioral process. The 3 processes occur simultaneously and interact. They can be influenced by physical activity and also can…

The purpose of this article is to bring attention to the 10 most pressing questions relevant to musculoskeletal physical fitness testing in children and adolescents. The goal is to stimulate research to answer these questions. The most pressing needs include establishing definitive links between valid, reliable, and feasible field test measures of…

This article explores an innovative strategy for battling the obesity epidemic. The strategy involves demonstrating to policy makers and education leaders the value of promoting physical activity in school as a way of enhancing academic-related outcomes to narrow the current achievement gap. A literature review was conducted to ascertain the…

This article offers a brief and personal account of the historical background, implementation and principal findings from the Trois-Rivieres regional project, a large-scale quasi-experimental intervention that tested the impact of providing a daily hour of specialist-taught quality physical education upon the physical and mental development of…

The aim of this study was to investigate the development of overweight compared with healthy-weight children attending kindergartens in Munich, Germany. Mean age of the children at the beginning of the study was 53.2 months (SD = 7.5); the duration of the study was 20 months. At the beginning of the study children were classified as overweight (n…

This study compares the motor skills and physical fitness of school-age children (6-12 years) with visual impairments (VI; n = 60) and sighted children (n = 60). The relationships between the performance parameters and the children's body composition are investigated as well as the role of the severity of the impairment. The degree of VI did not…

Objective: To compare attitudes of overweight (OW) and normal weight (NW) adults regarding health club exercise. Design: A 46-item survey (23 pairs of attitude/value statements) measured attitudes toward exercising at a health club 30 minutes, twice a week, for a month. Setting: Survey posted on surveymonkey.com. Respondents (men = 730, women =…

Background: Recess is at the heart of a vigorous debate over the role of schools in promoting optimal child development and well-being. Reallocating time to accentuate academic concerns is a growing trend and has put recess at risk. Conversely, pressure to increase activity in school has come from efforts to combat childhood obesity. The purpose…

The "problem" of overweight and obesity among children and youth has received a tremendous amount of attention by government agencies, public health officials and within popular presses. The issue has been dubbed everything from a national epidemic to a global health crisis. Social policy solutions to the problem of overweight and…

This paper makes use of critical discourse analysis and Bourdieu's theoretical framework to explore rural young women's meanings of health and fitness and how the healthism discourse is perpetuated through their experiences in school physical education (PE). The young women's own meanings are explored alongside interview data from their school PE…

Statewide physical fitness testing is gaining popularity in the United States because of increased childhood obesity levels, the relations between physical fitness and academic performance, and the hypothesized relations between adult characteristics and childhood physical activity, physical fitness, and health behaviors. Large-scale physical…