Characteristics of School Campuses and Physical Activity Among Youth

Cradock, Angie L.; Melly, Steven J.; Allen, Joseph G.; Morris, Jeffrey S.; Gortmaker, Steven L.

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2007.04.009

Cited by 75 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…Factors such as school policies and PE importance within schools are often included in studies in this field 2 . In summary the results focus on features of the physical environment, 18 others analyze variables such as school policies, PE classes, extracurricular activities, among others 3 . Another important distinction is between perceived and built environmental attributes: some studies emphasized the perception of students, teachers or school principals about the school environment 9 and others addressed features of the built environment, such as the number of features in playgrounds and school area (m 2 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review

Knuth

Hallal²

2012

RBAFS

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The aim of this study was to identify, discuss and summarize findings from articles on the association between characteristics of the school environment and physical activity in children and adolescents. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Articles were identified in PubMed. The main inclusion criteria were: (a) studies with children and adolescents -studies with preschool children only were excluded because they were covered in a recent review; (b) physical activity as the outcome; (c) school environment characteristics as the exposure variable. Outcome variables were heterogeneous across the 13 studies, including recess physical activity practice, extracurricular sports practice, Physical Education classes and total physical activity. Half of the studies used objective physical activity measures. The evaluation of school environments was again heterogeneous, ranging from checklists of spaces, satellite photos and interviews with school teachers and principals comprising sociocultural dimensions of the environment, policies and PE classes, but mainly measures of the built environment. No definitive conclusion about the influence of school environment on physical activity can be drawn due to the heterogeneity across studies, settings dimension assessed and the lack of prospective data. However, several features such as improvements in playgrounds, health promotion policies at school, and positive perceptions of the school environment seem to be associated with increased physical activity among children and adolescents. KeywordsSchool, physical activity, youth, environment Resumo O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar, discutir e sumarizar os achados sobre a associação entre características do ambiente escolar e atividade física em crianças e adolescentes. Foi utilizado o guia PRIS-MA para revisões sistemáticas. Artigos foram buscados na PubMed. Os principais critérios de inclusão foram: (a) estudos com crianças e adolescentes -estudos apenas com pré-escolares foram excluídos em função de uma recente revisão com este grupo; (b) atividade física como desfecho; (c) características

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review

Knuth

Hallal²

2012

RBAFS

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“…Several built environment features, which lend themselves well to geographic analysis, have consistently been shown to be associated with physical activity and the degree of obesity in children. Such features include parks, playgrounds, school spaces, green spaces as well as attributes such as distance to school, presence of sidewalks, street connectivity and "walkability" in general (Cooper et al, 2005;Frank et al, 2005;Cradock et al, 2007;Papas et al, 2007;Lee et al, 2008;Oreskovic et al, 2009) These built environment features are thought to increase physical activity through promotion of physical activity, walking and possibly riding a bicycle within a given space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining global positioning system and accelerometer data to determine the locations of physical activity in children

et al. 2012

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Abstract. National trends indicate that children and adolescents are not achieving sufficient levels of physical activity. Combining global positioning system (GPS) technology with accelerometers has the potential to provide an objective determination in locations where youth engage in physical activity. The aim of this study was to identify the optimal methods for collecting combined accelerometer and GPS data in youth, to best locate where children spend time and are physically active. A convenience sample of 24 mid-school children in Massachusetts was included. Accelerometers and GPS units were used to quantify and locate childhood physical activity over 5 weekdays and 2 weekend days. Accelerometer and GPS data were joined by time and mapped with a geographical information system (GIS) using ArcGIS software. Data were collected in winter, spring, summer in 2009-2010, collecting a total of 26,406 matched datapoints overall. Matched data yield was low (19.1% total), regardless of season (winter, 12.8%; spring, 30.1%; summer, 14.3%). Teacher-provided, pre-charged equipment yielded the most matched (30.1%; range: 10.1-52.3%) and greatest average days (6.1 days) of data. Across all seasons, children spent most of their time at home. Outdoor use patterns appeared to vary by season, with street use increasing in spring, and park and playground use increasing in summer. Children spent equal amounts of physical activity time at home and walking in the streets. Overall, the various methods for combining GPS and accelerometer data provided similarly low amounts of combined data. No combined GPS and accelerometer data collection method proved superior in every data return category, but use of GIS to map joined accelerometer and GPS data can demarcate childhood physical activity locations.

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“…Specific aspects of physical structures, including access to amenities 20 , size of play area 21 , access to school fields in extra times 19 , and other physical characteristics such as the presence of gymnasium 22 have been found to increase levels of PA during school hours. Nevertheless, in our study, the variable built to represent school physical structure was not associated with leisure-time or overall PA.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School and individual-level correlates of physical activity in children: a multilevel approach

Correa¹,

Cordeira²,

Marques³

et al. 2013

Rev Bras Ativ Fis Saude

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This study aimed to assess the association between individual and school environment variables and physical activity levels in Brazilian schoolchildren with 8-12 years of age. A sample of children from 20 private and public schools (n=1,210) was selected. Total and leisure-time physical activities and active transportation to school (AT) were measured using a self-report instrument. Total and leisure-time physical inactivity (PI) were defined as <300min/week of Physical activity. Physical and social school environment features were assessed through a questionnaire. The prevalence of PI, leisure-time PI, and AT to school were 69.2%, 75.8% and 70.5%, respectively. Multilevel models showed that PI was more frequent among girls, and was negatively associated with older age and higher maternal schooling. Girls were more inactive during leisure-time. For contextual variables, greater Physical Education teacher/student ratio was associated with lower levels of both total and leisure-time PI. AT was negatively associated with higher income and positively associated with older age. Students from public schools use more AT. Based on the prevalence of PI found, strategies focused at increasing physical activity levels should be implemented immediately. Also, our findings suggest that both individual and school contextual variables were associated with levels of PI, varying between domains. KeywordsSocial Environments, Epidemiology, Physical Education, Physical Activity. Resumo Este estudo objetivou avaliar a associação entre variáveis individuais e do contexto escolar com os níveis de atividade física em escolares de 8 a 12 anos de idade. Uma amostra de crianças de 20 escolas públicas e privadas (n=1210) foi selecionada. Os níveis de atividade física total e no lazer e o transporte ativo para a escola foram mensurados por meio de um instrumento validado. Crianças foram con-

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Characteristics of School Campuses and Physical Activity Among Youth

Abstract: Background-Previous research suggests that school characteristics may influence physical activity. However, few studies have examined associations between school building and campus characteristics and objective measures of physical activity among middle school students.

Cited by 75 publications

References 20 publications

School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review

School environment and physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review

Combining global positioning system and accelerometer data to determine the locations of physical activity in children

School and individual-level correlates of physical activity in children: a multilevel approach

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