These preliminary findings suggest that DS and BIS are important psychological factors for intervention to improve women's pregnancy and postpartum psychological health and that EB in the pre-pregnancy period may offer women protective effects against DS in early pregnancy.

Background:Research examining women’s pregnancy physical activity (PA) behaviors with objective measures is scant. Therefore, 2 studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of pregnant women wearing pedometers and to examine women’s self-reported and objectively measured PA behaviors.Methods:Participants were pregnant women (Study 1 N = 50, Study 2 N = 30) who completed the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) and wore a Yamax pedometer for 3 consecutive days during free living at 20- and 32-weeks gestation.Results:As predicted in Study 1, we found (a) 100% participant agreement in wearing the pedometer and (b) LTEQ min and pedometer-determined indices classified 67% to 86% of the participants as insufficiently active at 20-weeks gestation. In Study 2, as hypothesized, (a) mean steps/d, LTEQ total, strenuous, and mild min of PA were positively associated at 20- and 32-weeks gestation; (b) mean steps/d and LTEQ strenuous min significantly declined from 20- to 32-weeks gestation; and (c) more women were classified as sedentary and low active at 32-weeks (73%) compared with 20-weeks gestation (50%).Conclusions:These findings are consistent with previous epidemiological evidence documenting the decline in women’s PA behaviors across the trimesters. They also illustrate that pedometer-determined indices might be a useful tool facilitating PA adoption and maintenance during pregnancy.

BackgroundParents play an important role in the development of children's health behaviors, but less is known about the role of parental encouragement for physical activity (PA) on youth PA behavior and body image satisfaction. The purposes of this study were to: (1) longitudinally assess whether adolescent PA at age 15 mediates the effect of perceived parental encouragement for PA at age 15 for predicting adolescent body satisfaction at age 16, while controlling for body mass index (BMI), and (2) examine the extent to which adolescent sex moderates this association.MethodsParticipants were 379 boys and girls assessed at 15 and 16 years of age, who completed surveys as part of a larger longitudinal study in their health/physical education classes in a school district in Central Pennsylvania. Participants completed measures of their perception of parental encouragement for PA, PA behavior, body satisfaction, and height and weight to calculate BMI at age 15 and 16 (i.e., 10th and 11th grades). Pearson correlations were used to examine the association among the study variables and hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict body satisfaction at age 16.ResultsPerceived encouragement for PA from fathers, but not mothers, at age 15, was significantly associated with adolescent PA at age 15 and body satisfaction scores at age 16. Adolescents reporting higher PA behavior and perceived encouragement for PA from fathers at age 15 had higher body satisfaction scores at age 16. Moreover, adolescent PA at age 15 mediated the association between perceived fathers' encouragement for PA at age 15 and adolescent body satisfaction at age 16, when controlling for BMI. Examining the moderating effect of adolescent sex on this association revealed that adolescent PA no longer mediated the association between perceived encouragement for PA from fathers and adolescent body satisfaction, and sex moderated this association.DiscussionThese findings suggest that, regardless of adolescent BMI, fathers may play an instrumental role in adolescents' body image satisfaction by positively influencing PA behavior. However, the influence of perceived encouragement for PA from fathers on adolescent body satisfaction and PA behavior may differ for boys and girls.

The purpose of this study was to examine RT3 accelerometer activity counts and activity energy expenditure of 36 pregnant women at 20 and 32 weeks' gestation during treadmill walking and free-living conditions. During treadmill walking, oxygen consumption was collected, and activity energy expenditure was estimated for a 30-min walk at a self-selected walking pace. The number of min it would take a pregnant woman to meet exercise recommendations (i.e., kcal/week) were calculated. Preliminary activity count cut points at a self-selected walking pace were then estimated and applied in interpreting free-living data. For the treadmill walking condition, the self-selected walking pace significantly decreased from 20 to 32 weeks' gestation. Additionally, few women (< 12% each day) met physical activity guidelines in the free-living condition. Encouraging pregnant women to walk for 30-40 min per day at a self-selected walking pace may be an appropriate public health recommendation.

Background:Scant research has examined the determinants of primary exercise dependence symptoms in youth. Study purposes were to examine sex differences across leisure-time exercise behavior, motivation, and primary exercise dependence symptoms in youth and the extent to which exercise behavior and motivation predicted exercise dependence within the Self-Determination Theory framework.Methods:Adolescents (N = 805; mean age = 15 years; 46% girls) completed measures of exercise behavior, motivation, and exercise dependence in health/PE classes.Results:One-way ANOVA revealed boys scored higher than girls on leisure-time exercise behavior, exercise dependence symptoms, and most of the exercise motivation subscales. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a) sex, exercise behavior, motivation, and their interaction terms explained 39% of the variance in primary exercise dependence; b) Integrated Regulation and Introjected Regulation were important determinants of exercise dependence; and c) sex moderated the contributions of External Regulation for predicting exercise dependence such that boys in the high and low external regulation groups had higher symptoms than girls in the high and low external regulation groups.Conclusions:These preliminary findings support the controlled dimensions of Integrated Regulation (boys, girls), Introjected Regulation (boys, girls), and External Regulation (boys only) are important determinants of primary exercise dependence symptoms.