Physical activity (PA) parenting research has proliferated over the past decade, with findings verifying the influential role that parents play in children's emerging PA behaviors. This knowledge, however, has not translated into effective family-based PA interventions. During a preconference workshop to the 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity annual meeting, a PA parenting workgroup met to: (1) Discuss challenges in PA parenting research that may limit its translation, (2) identify explanations or reasons for such challenges, and (3) recommend strategies for future research. Challenges discussed by the workgroup included a proliferation of disconnected and inconsistently measured constructs, a limited understanding of the dimensions of PA parenting, and a narrow conceptualization of hypothesized moderators of the relationship between PA parenting and child PA. Potential reasons for such challenges emphasized by the group included a disinclination to employ theory when developing measures and examining predictors and outcomes of PA parenting as well as a lack of agreed-upon measurement standards. Suggested solutions focused on the need to link PA parenting research with general parenting research, define and adopt rigorous standards of measurement, and identify new methods to assess PA parenting. As an initial step toward implementing these recommendations, the workgroup developed a conceptual model that: (1) Integrates parenting dimensions from the general parenting literature into the conceptualization of PA parenting, (2) draws on behavioral and developmental theory, and (3) emphasizes areas which have been neglected to date including precursors to PA parenting and effect modifiers.

Social isolation has adverse effects on mental health, physical exercise, and dietary habits. This longitudinal observational study aimed to investigate the effects of mood states and exercise on nutritional choices, on 176 college students (92 males, 84 females; 23 ± 4 years old) during the COVID-19 lockdown. During 21 days, nutrition and exercise were daily monitored, and the mood states assessed. A factor analysis was used to reduce the number of nutritional variables collected. The relationships between exercise, mood and nutrition were investigated using a multivariate general linear model and a mediation model. Seven factors were found, reflecting different nutritional choices. Exercise was positively associated with fruit, vegetables and fish consumption (p = 0.004). Depression and quality of life were, directly and inversely, associated with cereals, legumes (p = 0.005; p = 0.004) and low-fat meat intake (p = 0.040; p = 0.004). Exercise mediated the effect of mood states on fruit, vegetables and fish consumption, respectively, accounting for 4.2% and 1.8% of the total variance. Poorer mood states possibly led to unhealthy dietary habits, which can themselves be linked to negative mood levels. Exercise led to healthier nutritional choices, and mediating the effects of mood states, it might represent a key measure in uncommon situations, such as home-confinement.

Physical Activity promotion interventions should address a range of behavioral determinants. Personalized approaches and PA sessions should be considered in future studies. The high risk of bias of many studies (mainly due to attrition and poor reporting) and missing information about intervention components limit the strength of conclusions about the most effective strategies and the evidence of effectiveness, highlighting the need for further high-quality studies.

Background: Physical inactivity is a key contributor to the global burden of disease and disproportionately impacts the wellbeing of people experiencing mental illness. Increases in physical activity are associated with improvements in symptoms of mental illness and reduction in cardiometabolic risk. Reliable and valid clinical tools that assess physical activity would improve evaluation of intervention studies that aim to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in people living with mental illness. Methods: The five-item Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire (SIMPAQ) was developed by a multidisciplinary, international working group as a clinical tool to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviour in people living with mental illness. Patients with a DSM or ICD mental illness diagnoses were recruited and completed the SIMPAQ on two occasions, one week apart. Participants wore an Actigraph accelerometer and completed brief cognitive and clinical assessments. Results: Evidence of SIMPAQ validity was assessed against accelerometer-derived measures of physical activity. Data were obtained from 1010 participants. The SIMPAQ had good test-retest reliability. Correlations for moderatevigorous physical activity was comparable to studies conducted in general population samples. Evidence of validity for the sedentary behaviour item was poor. An alternative method to calculate sedentary behaviour had stronger evidence of validity. This alternative method is recommended for use in future studies employing the SIMPAQ. Conclusions: The SIMPAQ is a brief measure of physical activity and sedentary behaviour that can be reliably and validly administered by health professionals.

The purpose of this research was to assess an Italian version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C-It). Three separate studies were conducted, whereby testing general psychometric properties, construct validity, concurrent validity and the factor structure of the PAQ-C-It among general and clinical pediatric population. Study 1 (n = 1170) examined the psychometric properties, internal consistency, factor structure (exploratory factor analysis, EFA) and construct validity with enjoyment perception during physical activity. Study 2 (n = 59) reported on reliability, construct validity with enjoyment and BMI, and on cross-sectional concurrent validity with objectively measured MVPA (tri-axial accelerometry) over the span of seven consecutive days. Study 3 (n = 58) examined the PAQ-C-It reliability, construct validity with BMI and VO2max as the objective measurement among a population of children with congenital heart defects (CHD). In study 2 and 3, the factor structure of the PAQ-C-It was then re-examined with an EFA. The PAQ-C-It showed acceptable to good reliability (alpha .70 to .83). Results on construct validity showed moderate but significant association with enjoyment perception (r = .30 and .36), with BMI (r = -.30 and -.79 for CHD simple form), and with the VO2max (r = .55 for CHD simple form). Significant concurrent validity with the objectively measured MVPA was reported (rho = .30, p < .05). Findings of the EFA suggested a two-factor structure for the PAQ-C-It, with items 2, 3, and 4 contributing little to the total score. This study supports the PAQ-C-It as an appropriate instrument to assess the MVPA levels of Italian children, including children with simple forms of CHD. Support is given to the possible instrument effectiveness on a large international perspective in order to level out data gathering across the globe.