OBJECTIVE:To compare the physical activity (PA) patterns and the hypothesized psychosocial and environmental determinants of PA in an ethnically diverse sample of obese and non-obese middle school children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: One-hundred and thirty-three non-obese and 54 obese sixth grade children (mean age of 11.4 AE 0.6). Obesity status determined using the age-, race-and gender-speci®c 95th percentile for BMI from NHANES-1. MEASUREMENTS: Objective measurements were collected of PA over a 7-day period using the CSA 7164 accelerometer: total daily counts; daily moderate (3 ± 5.9 METs) physical activity (MPA); daily vigorous physical activity ( ! 6 METs; VPA); and weekly number of 5, 10 and 20 min bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( ! 3 METs, MVPA). Self-report measures were collected of PA self-ef®cacy; social in¯uences regarding PA, beliefs about PA outcomes; perceived PA levels of parents and peers, access to sporting andaor ®tness equipment at home, involvement in community-based PA organizations; participation in community sports teams; and hours spent watching television or playing video games. RESULTS: Compared to their non-obese counterparts, obese children exhibited signi®cantly lower daily accumulations of total counts, MPA and VPA as well as signi®cantly fewer 5, 10 and 20 min bouts of MVPA. Obese children reported signi®cantly lower levels of PA self-ef®cacy, were involved in signi®cantly fewer community organizations promoting PA and were signi®cantly less likely to report their father or male guardian as physically active. CONCLUSIONS:The results are consistent with the hypothesis that physical inactivity is an important contributing factor in the maintenance of childhood obesity. Interventions to promote PA in obese children should endeavor to boost self-ef®cacy perceptions regarding exercise, increase awareness of, and access to, community PA outlets, and increase parental modeling of PA.

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Emerging evidence suggests that several policy and environmental factors contribute to the marked between-center variability in physical activity and sedentary behavior. Intervention studies targeting these factors are thus warranted.

This study examined the relationship of race and rural/urban setting to physical, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental factors associated with physical activity. Subjects included 1,668 eighth-grade girls from 31 middle schools: 933 from urban settings, and 735 from rural settings. Forty-six percent of urban girls and 59% of rural girls were Black. One-way and two-way ANOVAs with school as a covariate were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that most differences were associated with race rather than setting. Black girls were less active than White girls, reporting significantly fewer 30-minute blocks of both vigorous and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Black girls also spent more time watching television, and had higher BMIs and greater prevalence of overweight than White girls. However, enjoyment of physical education and family involvement in physical activity were greater among Black girls than White girls. Rural White girls and urban Black girls had more favorable attitudes toward physical activity. Access to sports equipment, perceived safety of neighborhood, and physical activity self-efficacy were higher in White girls than Black girls.