This narrative review describes the available scientific evidence regarding promising school-based strategies to increase physical activity of adolescents. We conducted a literature search for studies published up to 2011, regarding adolescent physical activity intervention studies that resulted in increased physical activity (regardless of measurement) and reviewed 52 intervention articles and 21 review articles. We identified several promising strategies and grouped into five broad intervention guidelines. These guidelines are as follows: (i) design multi-component interventions that foster the empowerment of members of the school community; (ii) develop improvements to Physical Education curricula as a strategy to promote physical activity to adolescents; (iii) design and implement non-curricular programmes and activities to promote physical activity; (iv) include computer-tailored interventions during the implementation and monitoring of physical activity promotion programmes and (v) design and implement specific strategies that respond to the interests and needs of girls. On the basis of our review of the adolescent physical activity promotion literature, we suggest that these five guidelines should be taken into account in school-based interventions geared towards achieving an increase in adolescent physical activity.

Adolescents' objectively assessed physical activity (PA) patterns during specific segments of the day remain unclear. In order to develop a clearer understanding this study examined country and gender differences in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels during specific segments of weekdays and weekend days, and explored the contribution of each segment to PA guidelines. Morpho-demographic, socio-economic and PA data were collected from a sample of 829 French and Spanish adolescents (45.0% Spanish; 55.2% females; 14.33±.73 years). Actigraph GT3X accelerometers were worn for seven days to assess adolescents' MVPA for three segments of weekdays (school-travel-time, school-time, and non-school-time), and weekend days (morning-time, afternoon-time and night-time). Data were analysed using multilevel modelling. The most active segments were non-school-time (29.2±17.5 min) and school-time (25.8±14.2 min) during weekdays, and morning-time (28.2±25.8 min) on weekend days. Except for school-time, Spanish adolescents were more significantly active than French adolescents during all segments. Significant gender differences were found in all segments. Country differences highlight the need to recognise cultural contexts that influence adolescents' PA. Common European-wide strategies may be insufficient to increase MVPA levels if cultural variability is not considered. Spanish and French PA intervention programmes should target girls and low-active boys during non-school-time and weekends.

The goals of this study were (1) to describe and compare levels of physical activity (PA), assessed by accelerometry, of adolescents in two close Spanish and French cities according to gender and period of the week and (2) to assess, with reference to country and gender, the extent to which international PA guidelines were fulfilled. The PA of 401 adolescents (53.37% females) from France and Spain (55.72% French) aged 14.45 ± 0.67 years was assessed with GT3X accelerometers for seven consecutive days to evaluate their habitual levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Data collection took place from September to December 2010 in six public and state schools in France and Spain. There were significant differences in MVPA in terms of country, gender and period of the week. Spanish adolescents were more active than French adolescents, boys were more active than girls and MVPA was higher on weekdays than at weekends. French girls showed the lowest level of PA. Only 35.9% of the whole sample met the guidelines for PA in both countries. Governments of relevant countries, especially France, should adopt PA promotion policies targeted at adolescents in order to enhance their compliance with PA guidelines.

La etapa universitaria supone un momento sensible respecto a la realización de práctica de actividad física (AF), especialmente en las mujeres. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue identificar la prevalencia de barreras de práctica de AF, y analizar las posibles diferencias en función del género y el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones de práctica de AF para adultos, establecidas por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (2010). Participaron 901 estudiantes universitarios (M = 22.59; DT = 3.59) que cumplimentaron el IPAQ-SF y la Escala de Percepción de Barreras. Entre los resultados destaca que las barreras relativas a la falta de tiempo obtuvieron los valores más altos entre la población universitaria. El MANOVA realizado mostró que los estudiantes que no cumplían las recomendaciones de práctica de AF percibían valores superiores en la mayoría de barreras de práctica de AF que aquellos estudiantes que sí cumplían las recomendaciones. De igual modo, las mujeres que cumplían las recomendaciones de AF presentaron valores superiores en todas las barreras analizadas, que los hombres que cumplían dichas recomendaciones. En esta misma línea, las mujeres que no cumplían las recomendaciones de AF presentaron valores superiores en las barreras referentes al tiempo y a la capacidad de disfrute que los hombres que no cumplían dichas recomendaciones. A raíz de la alta prevalencia de percepción de barreras, especialmente en las mujeres, se destaca la importancia de desarrollar programas de intervención y políticas que puedan suponer una mayor adherencia a la práctica de AF, asentando unos hábitos más activos en la población universitaria.