Background: Physical activity throughout the school day may help reduce the risk of childhood obesity. Semi-structured recess is a unique approach to create more physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the physical activity and enjoyment of urban school children during traditional unstructured recess and semi-structured recess. Method: Children from the Southwestern US (N = 165) wore a NL-1000 piezoelectric accelerometer during their 15-minute lunch recess. Children participated in both their traditional unstructured (no structure and no equipment) recess and semi-structured (organized games and equipment) recess. An enjoyment scale was completed after both types of recess formats. Results: During unstructured recess, children accumulated 1028 ± 356 steps and 4.59 ± 2.2 minutes of MVPA compared to 1156 ± 434 steps and 5.44 ± 2.76 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during semi-structured recess. Paired sample t-tests revealed that children took significantly more steps (t = −4.98; p < 0.001) and MVPA (t = −5.940; p < 0.001) during semi-structured recess. No significant differences were found for enjoyment (p = 0.847) between recesses. Conclusions: It is important for schools to consider creative, semi-structured recess opportunities to increase step counts and time in MVPA (while maintaining enjoyment) and reinforce recess as an important component of a comprehensive school physical activity program.

Change in weight and body composition was assessed over a six-week holiday period. Baseline testing occurred the Monday or Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving Day (November 24 or 25, 2008), and the post-holiday assessment was the Monday or Tuesday after New Year's Day (January 5 or 6, 2009). Thirteen men and 21 women ranging in age from 23-61 years completed the study. The majority of participants (24 of 34) perceived that they had gained weight, and four did gain ≥2 kg. However, despite some changes to dietary and exercise habits, on average there was no difference between pre-holiday weight (74.0±17.8 kg) and post-holiday weight (73.9±18.1 kg), nor between pre-holiday body fat percentage (25.4±9.0%) and post-holiday body fat percentage (25.4±8.9%). Despite a perception of substantial weight gain, body weight and body fat remained unchanged over a six-week holiday period.

Efforts to decrease the risk of overweight and obesity should focus on children’s physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption. Within school-based interventions, there is insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of the use of character modeling and goal setting to determine changes in step counts, MVPA, and FV consumption. Study participants were 187 students in grades 4 and 5 from 2 Title 1 elementary schools in the Southwest United States. The intervention was a quasi-experimental character modeling and goal setting program. New Lifestyles NL-1000 activity monitors were used to assess number of steps taken and MVPA by the participants. Fruit and vegetable consumption was measured by direct observation. School day steps, MVPA, and FV consumption were recorded at baseline, intervention, and during a 10-week follow-up. There were not differences between groups at baseline. Steps and MVPA were statistically significantly (P < .05; Δ = ~2500 steps and ~5 minutes of MVPA) greater in the intervention compared with the control group over time. Fruit and vegetable consumption was not significantly (P = .308) greater in the intervention compared with the control group over time. Students in the intervention school were significantly more active than students in the control school during the intervention phase and at follow-up. The findings reported here would suggest that character modeling and goal setting can increase PA among elementary aged children but did not increase FV consumption.

Background: Decreasing the risk of overweight and obesity from an early age is imperative and efforts should focus on fostering children's physical activity (PA). Within school-based interventions, there is insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of the use of character peer-modeling and goal setting to increase physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a school-based intervention on PA and enjoyment of PA in grades 3-5 elementary school age children at two urban elementary schools. Methods: Participants were 95 students of 8-10 years old; activity monitors were used to assess physical activity. Daily physical activity and enjoyment was recorded at baseline, intervention, and at a 6-school-week follow-up. Results: PA significantly increased in the intervention school averaging 5549 steps at baseline, 5889 steps during the intervention, and 6515 during follow-up (p < 0.05). Participants significantly increased their moderate to vigorous physical activity from 28.54 min at baseline to 30.06 minutes at week 4 and 36.45 during follow-up (p < 0.05). There was no change in enjoyment levels from baseline to follow-up. Conclusion: The Fit "n" Cool Kids intervention presents the potential of peer-modeling and goal setting for increasing PA at school. Continued interventions in schools may positively influence children's healthy living patterns.

This review examined 62 studies that focused on adolescent females' physical activity and gender differences in physical activity levels among adolescents. Approximately 15% of female adolescents are obese and only 35% are meeting the recommendation of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day declining to 3% once females reach high school. Identifying factors that influence physical activity among adolescent females has led to successful interventions. 42 IntroductionThe prevalence of obesity in the United States has increased dramatically over the past ten years with approximately 32% of adolescents classified as overweight and obese. Obesity is especially on the rise among female adolescence with 15% being classified as obese (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012). Many health risks are involved with obesity among adolescent females such as increase in adipose tissue (Malina, Bouchard, & Bar-Or, 2004), the risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and hypertension as they reach adulthood (Crombie, Ilich, Dutton, Panton, & Abood, 2009). Along with health risks, adolescent females who are obese or overweight can develop significant problems with social and emotional development such as body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and behavioral issues (Bjornely. Nordahl, & Holmes, 2010).In general, adolescent females who are obese or overweight are less physically fit and find physical activity (PA) less enjoyable (Power, Ullrich-French, Steele, Daratha, & Bindler, 2011). This decrease in PA has also been linked to early onset puberty (Niven, Fawkner, Knowles, & Stephenson, 2007) and it has been found that early maturing girls participate in less moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than late maturing girls (Sherar, Gyrusik, Humbert, Esliger, & Baxter-Jones, 2006). Researchers have also found that adolescents with low selfesteem are less likely to be drawn towards participating in PA which can lead to them being less physically active going into adulthood (Gao & Podlog, 2011;Niven, Fawkner, Knowles, Henretty, & Stephenson, 2009).This decline in PA among girls begins in elementary school and continues through high school (Felton et al., 2005). The National Growth and Health Study found that girls PA levels declined by 83% between the ages of 9-19 (Kimm et al., 2002). The most dramatic decline (4%) occurs during 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th grades (Halyk, Brittain, Dinger, Taylor, & Shepard, 2010;Stevens et al., 2005). A study conducted by Taber, Stevens, Lytle Foreman, Moody, Parra-Medina, and Pratt (2011) found that eighth grade girls participated in significantly fewer school and non-school PA programs than girls in the sixth grade. Although adolescent girls should engage in MVPA for 60 minutes every day, only 35% aged 6-11 are meeting this recommendation and it decreased dramatically to only 3% of adolescents in grades 9-12 (Troiano et al., 2008).Studies have found numerous barriers associated with adolescent females not being physically active. These include time, lack of facilitie...