Objective. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the scientific literature that has examined the association between school-based physical activity (including physical education) and academic performance (including indicators of cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic achievement).Method. Relevant research was identified through a search of nine electronic databases using both physical activity and academic-related search terms. Forty-three articles (reporting a total of 50 unique studies) met the inclusion criteria and were read, abstracted, and coded for this synthesis. Findings of the 50 studies were then summarized.Results. Across all the studies, there were a total of 251 associations between physical activity and academic performance, representing measures of academic achievement, academic behavior, and cognitive skills and attitudes. Slightly more than half (50.5%) of all associations examined were positive, 48% were not significant, and 1.5% were negative. Examination of the findings by each physical activity context provides insights regarding specific relationships. Conclusion.Results suggest physical activity is either positively related to academic performance or that there is not a demonstrated relationship between physical activity and academic performance. Results have important implications for both policy and schools.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the first year of Safer Choices, a theoretically based, multicomponent HIV, STD, and pregnancy prevention program for high school youth. The study featured a randomized trial involving 20 schools in California and Texas, with a cohort of 3,869 ninth-grade students. Students who completed both the baseline and the first follow-up survey approximately seven months later were included in the analysis (n = 3,677). Safer Choices enhanced 9 of 13 psychosocial variables including knowledge, self efficacy for condom use, normative beliefs and attitudes regarding condom use, perceived barriers to condom use, risk perceptions, and parent-child communication. Safer Choices also reduced selected risk behaviors. Specifically, Safer Choices reduced the frequency of intercourse without a condom in the three months prior to the survey, increased use of condoms at last intercourse, and increased use of selected contraceptives at last intercourse.

Objectives. This study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of Sofer Cholces, a theory-based, multi-component educational program designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors and increase protective behaviors in preventing HlV, other STDs, and pregnancy among high school students.Methods. The study used a randomized controlled trial involving 20 high schools in California and Texas. A cohort of 3869 ninth-grade students was tracked for 3 | months from fall semester 1993 (baseline) to spring semester 1996 (3 l-month follow-up). Data were collected using self-report surveys administered by trained data collectors. Response rate at 3l-month follow-up was 79%.Results. Sofer Chorces had its greatest effect on measures involving condom use. The program reduced the frequency of intercourse without a condom during the three months prior to the survey, reduced the number of sexual partners with whom students had intercourse without a condom, and increased use of condoms and other protection against pregnancy at last intercourse. Sofer Choices also improved 7 of l3 psychosocial variables, many related to condom use, but did not have a significant effect upon rates of sexual initiation.Conclusions. The Safer Cholces program was effective in reducing important risk behaviors for HlV, other STDs, and pregnancy and in enhancing most psychosocial determinants of such behavior.

The program was effective for boys, but not for girls.

We examined the content, construct and concurrent validity of scales to assess beliefs and self-efficacy related to adolescents' sexual risk behavior. We addressed content validity in the scale development process by drawing on literature and theory, and by pre-testing items with focus groups. We used confirmatory factor analysis of two models, an intercourse involvement model and a condom use model, to assess construct validity. The final intercourse involvement model included three scales: norms about sexual intercourse, attitudes about sexual intercourse and self-efficacy in refusing sex. The final condom use model included five scales: norms about condoms, attitudes about condom use, self-efficacy in communicating about condoms, self-efficacy in buying/using condoms and barriers to condom use. After two alterations to the models, the chi 2 and other indices indicated that the data fit the models well. Supporting the concurrent validity of the scales, high school students who had never had sexual intercourse had more negative attitudes toward sexual intercourse among teenagers, perceived norms toward sexual intercourse among teenagers to be more negative and expressed greater self-efficacy in refusing sex than did those who had experienced sexual intercourse. Consistent condom users had more positive attitudes and norms about condoms, had higher self-efficacy in communicating about and buying/using condoms, and perceived fewer barriers to condom purchase and use than did inconsistent condom users.

This study evaluated All4You!, a theoretically based curriculum designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors associated with HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy among students in alternative schools. The study featured a randomized controlled trial involving 24 community day schools in northern California. A cohort of 988 students was assessed four times during an 18-month period using a self report questionnaire. At the 6-month follow-up, the intervention reduced the frequency of intercourse without a condom during the previous 3 months, the frequency of intercourse without a condom with steady partners, and the number of times students reported having intercourse in the previous 3 months. It also increased condom use at last intercourse. These behavioral effects were no longer statistically significant at the 12- and 18-month follow-ups. The All4You! intervention was effective in reducing selected sexual risk behaviors among students in alternative school settings; however, the effects were modest and short term.

This investigation predicted adolescents' delay of intercourse onset from attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy about refraining from sexual intercourse. Age, gender, ethnicity, and parental education were also examined as predictors and moderators of the relationships among the 3 psychosocial determinants and onset. The participants (N = 827), part of a cohort initially surveyed in the 9th grade, reported at baseline that they had never engaged in intercourse. The multivariable proportional hazards regression model suggested that adolescents with more positive attitudinal and normative beliefs, as well as those with a parent who graduated from college, were less likely to engage in intercourse in the follow-up period (up to approximately 2 years). Interventions that include an objective to delay onset may benefit from addressing psychosocial determinants, especially attitudes and norms about sexual intercourse.

This study investigates how community characteristics can protect adolescents from the negative effects of poverty. Using economic predictors, eight communities with low or high birthrates for 15- to 17-year-old Latinas were identified. Quantitative data on birth-rates, demographics, and the physical environment were obtained from government, hospital, and local sources. Qualitative data on the physical environment and social processes in the community were collected by interviews and observations in these eight communities. The low- and high-birthrate communities differed in their physical environment, the characteristics of the population, social capital, and cultural norms. The zip codes with low adolescent birthrates had a higher percentage of residents of Latino descent, stronger social networks, and more ties to their countries of origin. The findings support a model of community building that focuses on strengthening informal social networks and supporting protective cultural norms.