The suspension-training intervention delivered twice a week was beneficial for upper body pulling muscular endurance and the Functional Movement Screen score. Future interventions using this modality in youth would benefit from larger, more diverse samples (through schools or community fitness centers) and a longer intervention length.
Positive parent-child attachment can be determined by opportunities for the child to interact with his/her parent and can influence a child's physical activity (PA) behavior. Therefore, an intervention that provides children and their parent more time to interact positively could impact children's PA. We examined the efficacy of a 12-week mother-daughter intervention on African-American girls' PA levels. In Spring of 2013 and 2014, mother-daughter dyads (n = 76) from Springfield, MA, were randomly assigned to one of three groups [child-mother (CH-M, n = 28), child alone (CH, n = 25), or control (CON, n = 23)] that participated in an afterschool culturally-tailored dance intervention (60 min/day, 3 days/week, 12 weeks). Girls in the CH-M group participated in the intervention with their maternal figure, while girls in the CH group participated in the intervention alone. CON group participants received weekly health-related newsletters. PA was assessed with accelerometers for seven days at baseline, 6-weeks, and 12-weeks. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine rates of change in PA. During the afterschool intervention time, girls in the CH-M group displayed a significantly steeper rate of increase in their percent time spent in vigorous PA compared to both the CON (γ = 0.80, p < 0.001) and the CH group (χ2 (1)=13.01, p < 0.001). Mothers in the CH-M group displayed a significantly steeper rate of increase in their percent time spent in total daily moderate-to-vigorous PA compared to CH group's mothers (γ = 0.07, p = 0.01). This culturally-tailored mother-daughter afterschool intervention influenced African-American girls' afterschool hour PA levels, but not total daily PA.Trial Registration: Study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.govNCT01588379.
Background: Early childhood is an important age for brain and cognitive development. Given the support of physical activity and fitness on cognition and academic performance in older children, more research has emerged recently focusing on younger children. In this systematic review, the authors review the relations between physical activity/fitness and academic-related (ie, school readiness and cognitive) outcomes in early childhood. Methods: A search was conducted from PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC databases, and reference lists for articles that had participants aged less than 6 years were written in English, and were in peer-reviewed journals. Articles were excluded if the design was a case study or case series report. The Grading Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework was followed to assess the quality of evidence by study design. Results: Sixty-eight articles reporting on 72 studies (29 observational and 43 experimental) were included. The majority of study effects were mixed, and the quality of evidence varied from very low to low. Conclusions: A clear consensus about the role of physical activity and fitness on academic-related outcomes in early childhood is still lacking given the high heterogeneity in methodological approaches and overall effects. Additional high-quality studies are needed to determine what specific dosages of physical activity are impactful at this age.
Sleep disturbances in early childhood are associated with mood and anxiety disorders. Children also exhibit sleep disruptions, such as nighttime awakenings, nightmares, and difficulties falling asleep, in conjunction with adverse events and stress. Prior studies have examined independently the role of sleep on adaptive processing, as well as the effects of stress on sleep. However, how childhood sleep and children's adaptive behavior (i.e., coping strategies) bidirectionally interact is currently less known. Using a within-subjects design and actigraphy-measured sleep from 16 preschool-aged children (Mage = 56.4 months, SD = 10.8, range: 36–70 months), this study investigated how prior sleep patterns relate to children's coping during a potentially stressful event, the COVID-19 pandemic, and how prior coping skills may influence children's sleep during the pandemic. Children who woke earlier had greater negative expression both before and during the pandemic. During the pandemic, children slept longer and woke later on average compared to before the pandemic. Additionally, for children engaged in at-home learning, sleeping longer was associated with less negative expression. These findings highlight how sleep behaviors and coping strategies are related, and the stability of this relationship under stress.
The purpose of this study was to describe process evaluation data including intervention fidelity, dosage, quality, participant responsiveness, and program reach for the Mothers And dauGhters daNcing togEther Trial (MAGNET) in Springfield, MA, in Spring 2013 and 2014. Seventy-six mother-daughter dyads were randomized to the mother-daughter group (CH-M, n = 28), the child-only group (CH, n = 25), or the health education group (CON, n = 23). CH-M consisted of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous culturally-tailored dance classes for dyads. CH consisted of dance classes for the child. All groups received homework tutoring and weekly health newsletters. Process evaluation data were assessed at each intervention session (three days/week, 6-months) with semi-structured questionnaires by researchers. CH dance classes were slightly longer (58.2 ± 3.5 min) than CH-M (54.4 ± 5.5 min). In both groups, participants spent the majority of the dance intervention in light intensity physical activity (PA). Participants in the CH-M group enjoyed participating in MAGNET > 90% of the time. Mothers (92%) indicated that they wanted to continue dance as a form of PA. Mothers expressed that transportation, time commitment, and assessments were barriers to participation. Participants suggested future interventions should include longer intervention length and more communications between research staff and mothers. The MAGNET intervention matched the originally intended program in most aspects. A lower intervention dose was delivered to the CH-M group potentially due to barriers described by mothers. Because mother-daughter interventions have shown minimal effects on increasing PA, it is imperative that researchers utilize process evaluation data to shape future studies.
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