Physical activity in middle school-aged children participating in a school-based recreation program.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
The increasing incidence of obesity in children may be attributed in part to increased sedentary behavior, such as watching television, which leads to less energy expended in physical activity. We have theorized that by middle school, many children lack the physical skills or self-confidence to participate in competitive physical activities. Thus, we hypothesized that if we provided a summer and after-school program featuring noncompetitive, outdoor activities such as gardening and adventure education, we would observe increased physical activity relative to habitual physical activities at home.

METHODS:
To test this hypothesis, 2 experiments were conducted. In the first, 4 children aged 12 years were evaluated while they participated in a summer recreation program for 2 hours and again while they watched a videotape. They wore a uniaxial accelerometer to assess physical movement, and we used a bicarbonate labeled with 13C tracer technique to assess energy expenditure. In a second experiment, we evaluated 8 children (aged 10-12 years) twice using uniaxial accelerometry only, once while they attended the after-school program for 2 hours and then during a similar period at home.

RESULTS:
The first study showed that the estimated energy expenditure (kilocalories. kilograms-1. hours-1) was 60% increased during the program (mean +/- SD) (2.6 +/- 0.5) compared with watching a videotape (1.6 +/- 0.3) (P =.02). Physical movement (accelerations per minute) also was significantly increased (3959 +/- 896 vs 513 +/- 182) (P =.004). In the second experiment, movement was 95% increased during the program (4578 +/- 1004) compared with the behavior at home (2345 +/- 746) (P =.005).

CONCLUSION:
These results show that an organized, noncompetitive, leisure-time program can increase physical activity in children.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Kien, C Lawrence (CL); Chiodo, Andrew R (AR);

Affiliation: Children's Research Institute and the Department of Pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, USA. clkien(-atsign-)utmb.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Aug; vol 157 (issue 8) : pp 811-5

Dates: Created 2003/08/12; Completed 2003/09/04; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12912788, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Leisure Activities
Male
Motor Activity
Ohio
Physical Education and Training - methods
School Health Services

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.