Objective and Participants: The authors assessed the stability of diet and physical activity and their relationship to weight changes in first-year university women. Methods: They collected anthropometric and body composition data from 101 resident women at the beginning of their first year of college and again at 12 months. The authors obtained…

Americans need more physical activity in their daily routines. There are numerous physical as well as psychological benefits that can be credited to regular physical activity. The purpose of this research was to examine the physical activity patterns of young women, post-college graduation. The average woman in this study exercised 22 minutes per…

Objective: Examine the effect of the "California Children's Power Play! Campaign's School Idea & Resource Kits" for fourth/fifth grades on the psychosocial determinants of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and physical activity (PA). Methods: Randomized, controlled trial (n = 31 low-resource public schools; 1,154 children). Ten…

Associations of behavioral health risks and healthy behaviors with self-reported health-related quality of life measures were investigated in a Northern Plains American Indian sample. Participants were surveyed in person using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. The results showed that regular physical activity was significantly…

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes affect about 186,000 youth under age 20. Previously considered an adult disease, type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common in overweight minority youth over 10 years of age. Criteria help to identify young people at risk for type 2 diabetes as well as those with the disease. Prevention or delay of type 2 requires…

The objective was to examine differences of dietary pattern, physical activity and energy balance in 240 college students with 137 of them enrolled in California State University, Los Angeles (LA) and the other 93 enrolled in China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan (TW). A three-day dietary record and a 24-hour physical activity journal were…

Background: While studies have determined the importance of physical activity in advancing health outcomes, relatively few have explored the relationship between exercise and various health behaviors of adolescents. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between frequency and intensity of physical activity and both health risk…

Background: No research to date has extensively described moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and healthful eating (HE) opportunities in the after-school environment. The current study described the quality of the after-school environment for its impact on children's MVPA and HE. Methods: An alliance of 7 elementary schools and Boys and…

Healthful eating and regular physical activity are vitally important for low-income adolescents who are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM). To design a relevant, community-based intervention for these at risk adolescents, parent perceptions of barriers to healthful eating and physical activity should be assessed. Such barriers have been…

College obesity is increasing, but to the authors' knowledge, no researchers to date have evaluated risk factors in this population. Objective: The authors assessed whether abnormal eating perceptions and behaviors were associated with overweight in college students. Participants and Methods: A sample of undergraduates (N = 4,201) completed an…

Rates of overweight in youth have reached epidemic proportions and are associated with adverse health outcomes. Family-based programs have been widely used to treat overweight in youth. However, few programs incorporate a theoretical framework for studying a family systems approach in relation to youth health behavior change. Therefore, this…

Samuels & Associates, a research and evaluation firm based in Oakland, California, organized the National Evaluation and Measurement Meeting on School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, held on May 6 and 7, 2004 in San Francisco. The purpose of the meeting was to develop consensus regarding measures and tools to evaluate school-based…

Background: Although the effects of nutrition on health and school performance are often cited, few research studies have examined the effect of diet quality on the academic performance of children. This study examines the association between overall diet quality and academic performance. Methods: In 2003, 5200 grade 5 students in Nova Scotia,…

The purpose of this study was to obtain validity evidence for the Physical Activity and Healthy Food Efficacy Scale for Children (PAHFE). Construct validity evidence identifies four subscales: Goal-Setting for Physical Activity, Goal-Setting for Healthy Food Choices, Decision-Making for Physical Activity, and Decision-Making for Healthy Food…

Previous studies have shown that active consent procedures result in sampling bias in surveys dealing with adolescent risk behaviors such as cigarette smoking and illicit drug use. To examine sampling bias from active consent procedures when the survey topic pertains to childhood obesity and associated health behaviors, the authors pair data…