Little is known about the exact contribution of physical education (PE) to total daily physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the PA of middle school students during PE and non-PE days and determine if children would compensate for a lack of PE by increasing their PA later in the day. Two hundred seventy nine students (159 boys, 120 girls) wore pedometers (Walk4Life LS252, Plainfield, IL) during 5 school days, with at least two of the days including scheduled PE. The least (~1,575; 31% increase), moderately (~2,650; 20% increase), and most highly active students (~5,950; 34% increase) accumulated significantly more daily step counts on days when they participated in PE. Nearly three times the percent of boys (37%) and more than two times the percent of girls (61%) met the recommended steps/day guidelines on days when PE was offered. Rather than a compensatory effect, the most highly active students were more active on school days with PE, even after accounting for the steps they accrued in PE. The evidence is consistent with other studies that have found that PE contributes meaningfully to daily PA, that youth do not compensate when they are not provided opportunities to be physically active in school-based programs, and some youth are stimulated to be more active when they participate in school-based PA programs.

Background:Parents are believed to play a pivotal role in their children’s health-related behaviors, including physical activity (PA). It is currently unclear, however, at what developmental period parental socialization has the strongest influence on child and/or adolescent PA levels. The purpose of this study was to take a developmental approach to examine parental influence on children’s PA levels over time.Methods:Parents (N = 70; 68 mothers) completed a questionnaire assessing PA habits, amount of time they engage in PA with their child, and reasons for their child’s PA participation at baseline (during child’s preschool years) and at follow-up, which occurred from 1 to 9 years later.Results:The results indicate that the relationship between parents’ and children’s physical activity patterns and parents’ reasons for their children’s participation in organized physical activity change over time. Parents also reported spending approximately 60 min per week engaged in physical activity together with their children at baseline compared with 40 min at follow-up.Conclusions:These findings help to extend previous research examining parental influences on children’s physical activity participation.

39 3- to 5-year-old children wore heart-rate monitors for 12 hr. on three consecutive days to examine physical activity patterns. Parent logs supplied additional information on type and location of activity. The highest number of accumulated minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity was recorded during the weekday (38.6 min.) and weekend (31.4 min.) afternoons, a time period when more activity occurred outdoors. Sustained activity was mostly short in duration, but many children (71%) accumulated recommended amounts of activity on the weekday, fewer (46%) on the weekend. Spearman rank correlations for weekday (r=.50, p=.004) and weekend (r=.58, p=.004) activity were significant. Considering health risk factors associated with physical inactivity, early educators must look to the essence of young children's physical activity patterns in designing programs. Large motor activity that is intense and that occurs outdoors is a good place to start.