In recent decades, there has been a decline in active school transportation (AST). Parents play an important role as the key decision-makers of children's AST, and there is a need of more knowledge about the decision-making process and parents' beliefs towards AST. The overall aim of this study was to explore parents' attitudes and beliefs towards AST in the northern part of Sweden. Twenty parents participated in semi-structured interviews, which was based on the theory of planned behaviour. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. The analysis yielded one main theme, "Parenting and active school transportation-making route choices in a changed landscape" and four subthemes, "Knowing that it is beneficial while struggling with daily life", "Considering barriers and solutions to enable AST", "Parenting is challenging and about balancing", and "Reflecting and contemplating about what we and others do". Winter conditions affect parents' decisions, and this needs to be considered when facilitating AST in these regions. Overall better health, increased physical activity, time spent outdoors, and free play were revealed as positive outcomes of AST. Decisions were also influenced by social norms and how the idea of parenting has changed through generations. The findings of this study are likely to be important when promoting AST.

Purpose: This study aimed to describe physically inactive adolescents' experiences and reflections about engaging in physical activity. Methods: Nine graduate students from the third year of upper secondary school (six women and three men) participated in this study. Narrative interviews were used for data collection and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. Results: The analysis revealed three themes 'Acknowledging resistance and barriers to performing physical activity', 'Knowing that it is good is not enough', and 'Feeling included and accepted is fun and motivating'. These themes show that the adolescent's experienced barriers, acknowledged pros and cons and identified possibilities to be physically active. Conclusions: Identifying experiences that impact on inactive adolescents' attitude and willingness to perform physical activity can be useful to understand the needs of the individual. By relating these experiences to the different stages of the transtheoretical model, this study could provide valuable knowledge for designing future interventions to enhance physical activity in this target group.

The intervention might have contributed to a promotion of physical activity among students in the intervention group. The most valuable contribution this study provides is the knowledge that it is possible to develop and conduct an empowerment-inspired intervention to promote adolescent physical activity.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate differences in physical capacity between physically active and non-active men and women among graduates from upper secondary school. Subject and methods: Research participants were graduates (38 women and 61 men) from upper secondary school. Physical activity was determined using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and participants were dichotomously characterized as being physically active or physically non-active according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Aerobic capacity was measured using the Åstrand cycle ergometer test. Participants also underwent tests of muscular strength and balance. Results: Maximum oxygen uptake differed significantly between physically active and non-active men (mean ± SD 3.6 ± 0.7 vs 3.0 ± 0.6 l/kg, p = 0.002) and women (3.0 ± 0.6 vs 2.5 ± 0.3 l/kg, p = 0.016). There was a difference among physically active and non-active men regarding push-ups (37.1 ± 9.0 vs 28.5 ± 7.0, p < 0.001) and sit-ups (59.2 ± 30.2 vs 39.6 ± 19.4, p = 0.010). No significant differences were found regarding vertical jump or grip strength among men, any of the muscle strength measurements among women, and balance (in any sex). Conclusion: Activity levels had impact on aerobic capacity in both sexes, but did not seem to have the same impact on muscular strength and balance, especially in women