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…

This review identifies studies describing interventions delivered across both the home and school/community setting, which target obesity and weight-related nutrition and physical activity behaviors in children. Fifteen studies, published between 1998 and 2010, were included and evaluated for effectiveness, study quality, nutrition/activity…

The efficacy of 2 computer-based programs was tested with Latina college women (N = 64). Compared with participants in the control group, intervention participants improved their motivation to eat fruits and vegetables (F&V; p = 0.042) and to participate in physical activity (p = 0.023) and significantly increased their F&V intake (pre- to…

The role of schools and physical education in promoting health, producing a "healthy nation" and in tackling obesity has been increasingly recognised in recent years. In England this is evidenced by various policies, strategies and responses from government that have highlighted schools to be instrumental in addressing health broadly and…

This article introduces the notion of genetic essentialist biases: cognitive biases associated with essentialist thinking that are elicited when people encounter arguments that genes are relevant for a behavior, condition, or social group. Learning about genetic attributions for various human conditions leads to a particular set of thoughts…

This article examines a cluster of health topics that are frequently selected by students in lower division classes. Topics address issues relating to addictive substances, including alcohol and tobacco, eating disorders, obesity, and dieting. Analysis of the topics examines their interrelationships and organization in the reference literature.…

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…

For nearly 30 years researchers have investigated how bodyweight affects evaluative workplace outcomes, such as hiring decisions and performance appraisals. Despite this, no meta-analytic review has been undertaken to quantify the negative impact that bodyweight has on such outcomes. The results of this meta-analytic study suggest that in relation…

Child-care settings provide numerous opportunities to promote healthy eating and physical activity behaviors among preschool children. The majority of U.S. children are placed in some form of non-parental care during their preschool years. While approximately 15 percent of preschool children are primarily cared for by their relatives, most…

Background: The purpose of the study was to assess adolescents' perceptions of controllability and its relation to weight stereotypes as a function of gender. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-one seventh and eighth graders from physical education classes completed a perception of controllability questionnaire and weight stereotype explicit scale…

The Roadmap of Need is an in-depth needs assessment for North Carolina youth, produced annually by the Public School Forum of North Carolina's Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP). This publication examines the 20 indicators of wellness in counties across North Carolina. These indicators contain relevant annual data demonstrating need across…

In this paper, I draw on the growing body of work in surveillance studies, to examine the increasing propensity in recent years towards the monitoring and collection of information about children's weight and health within school contexts. Applying Haggerty and Ericson's concept of the surveillant assemblage within school contexts, the paper…

Childhood obesity trends have increased dramatically over the past three decade's. The purpose of this quantitative systematic review is to provide an update of the evidence, illustrating the efficacy of childhood obesity treatment, considering whether treatment fidelity has been measured and/or reported and whether this related to the treatment…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a summary of current policy and research related to pre-school overweight and obesity, and to provide a rationale for why early years settings are being placed at the forefront of strategies to address the problem. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a narrative review of current research, policy…

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease risk factors such as obesity and reduced cardio-respiratory fitness. However, there is limited data using laboratory measures for assessing the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with DCD. The purpose of this study was to examine…