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Associations Among Physical Activity, Health Indicators, And Employment In 12th Grade Girls, Marsha Dowda, Karin A. Pfeiffer, Rod K. Dishman, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study compared physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and other health indicators between 1381 employed and nonemployed 12th grade girls.

Methods: The girls were from 22 high schools in South Carolina (2002-2003); 56% of the girls were African American, and the mean age was 17.7 (0.6) years. Physical activity and sedentary behaviors were measured using the 3-Day Physical Activity Recall (3DPAR). Fitness, depressive symptoms, and smoking behavior were assessed.

Results: Fifty percent of the girls were employed, and on average, employed girls worked 9.6 30-minute blocks per day. Girls who worked reported significantly (p≤0.001) higher average total metabolic …

Long-Term Effects Of A Physical Activity Intervention In High School Girls, Russell R. Pate, Ruth P. Saunders, Rod K. Dishman, Cheryl L. Addy, Marsha Dowda, Dianne S. Ward

Faculty Publications

Background - Physical activity decreases during childhood and adolescence, and physical activity levels are significantly lower in females than males, particularly during adolescence. Schools are attractive settings in which to implement interventions designed to promote physical activity in girls and young women, but few studies have tested the sustained effects of such interventions.

Design - Cross-sectional. Data were collected in 2002-2003 and analyzed in 2006-2007.

Setting/Participants - 1594 adolescent girls in 22 high schools.

Intervention - The intervention, Lifestyle Education for Activity Program (LEAP), was designed to increase physical activity in 9^th grade girls through two channels: changes in …

Agreement Between Student-Reported And Proxy-Reported Physical Activity Questionnaires, Marsha Dowda, Russell R. Pate, James F. Sallis, Patty S. Freedson, Wendell C. Taylor, John R. Sirard, Stewart G. Trost

Faculty Publications

Parents and 531 students (46% males, 78% white) completed equivalent questionnaires. Agreement between student and parent responses to questions about hypothesized physical activity (PA) correlates was assessed. Relationships between hypothesized correlates and an objective measure of student's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in a subset of 177 students were also investigated. Agreement between student and parent ranged from r=.34 to .64 for PA correlates. Spearman correlations between MVPA and PA correlates ranged from -.04 to .21 for student report and -.14 to .32 for parent report, and there were no statistical differences for 8 out of 9 correlations between parent …

Objectively Measured Physical Activity And Fat Mass In A Large Cohort Of Children, Andy R. Ness, Sam D. Leary, Calum Mattocks, Steven N. Blair, John J. Reilly, Jonathan Wells, Sue Ingle, Kate Tilling, George Davey Smith, Chris J. Riddoch

Faculty Publications

Background: Previous studies have been unable to characterise the association between physical activity and obesity, possibly because most relied on inaccurate measures of physical activity and obesity.

Methods and Findings: We carried out a cross sectional analysis on 5,500 12-year-old children enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Total physical activity and minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were measured using the Actigraph accelerometer. Fat mass and obesity (defined as the top decile of fat mass) were measured using the Lunar Prodigy dual x-ray emission absorptiometry scanner. We found strong negative associations between MVPA and …