Background: Adolescents with overweight or obesity are at greater risk of having physical and psychosocial consequences. With increased disparities and inadequate literature on prevalence of adolescent weight status in rural Appalachia, there is potential for further complications. Unfortunately, adolescent obesity treatment options are often…

Background: The structure provided by school settings even with no specific obesity-intervention may prevent weight gain. This meta-analytic study considered this premise by examining weight outcomes from control groups in published randomized controlled trials of school-year obesity-related interventions conducted in-school and out-of-school.…

Objective: Over one-third of college students are overweight or obese and rates are rising. Whole body vibration (WBV) training could prevent weight gain but has not been tested in college students. Methods: Randomized controlled trial comparing thrice weekly WBV for 6 months to controls (CON) in undergraduate students. Feasibility included…

Background: Understanding the relationship between the perceived body weight, body mass index (BMI), and weight management-related behaviors is critical to preventing obesity in young adults. Purpose: To explore the relationship between perceived body weight and weight management-related behaviors and to assess the mediating effects of BMI between…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between physical and some motoric characteristics of university students who participate in regular sports training and those who do not. A total of 20 volunteer students, 10 students with an average age of 20.80 ± 1.69 and 10 students with an average age of 19.90 ± 1.45 without any…

Background: Obesity may cause physiological, psychological, social, and economic problems. Therefore, it is of considerable importance to implement preventive interventions for the factors that may cause obesity. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the obesity prevention program developed for secondary school students.…

Obesity in childhood has become a major global public health concern. Its considerable increase in the last decades took the World Health Organization (WHO) to regard this fact as one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. Diagnosing, intervening and, above all, preventing obesity in the early stages of life becomes urgent…

This article draws on Mills' sociological imagination (from the 1959 publication "The Sociological Imagination") to consider the connections between personal trouble and social issues when it comes to the causes and consequences of obesity. These connections may be important for assuaging the "obesity bias" that pervades our…

Social cognitive theory (SCT) is a well-known theory for designing nutrition education and physical activity programs for adolescents. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of intervention studies based on SCT in reducing or preventing overweight and obesity in adolescents. An electronic literature search in PubMed-Medline, Web of…

Background: Behavioral interventions to prevent pediatric obesity have shown inconsistent results across the field. Studying what happens within the "black box" of these interventions and how differences in implementation lead to different outcomes will help researchers develop more effective interventions. Aim: To compare the…

Background: Overweight and obese body mass index (BMI) status affects an increasing number of children in the United States. The school setting has been identified as a focus area to implement obesity prevention programs. Methods: A database search of PubMed, Education Search Complete, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature…

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between adolescents' adherence to the 5-2-1-0 goals and the number of completed Progressive Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) laps. Methods: Participants included 1792 students aged 10 to 16 years who were randomly selected across 9 data collection periods between 2012 and…

Background: Children's overweight and obesity have increased in Western societies, including Israel. Childhood is an important time for shaping healthy habits. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle intervention on health knowledge, behavior, and anthropometric measurements. Methods: A total of…

Background: Childhood obesity is a significant but largely "modifiable" health risk, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged, racial/ethnic minority, and rural children. Elementary school-aged children typically experience the greatest increases in excess weight gain and therefore are important targets for reducing…

Health education campaigns for preventing and reducing obesity often contain weight-stigmatizing visual content, which may have unintended negative health consequences. The goal of the present research was to identify non-stigmatizing visual content for health education materials that can promote exercise among people of diverse weight statuses.…