Social Cognitive Theory and Accelerometer Assessed Physical Activity among Adolescents Living in Rural Appalachia

Social Cognitive and Ecological Factors Influence Physical Activity Among Thai Adolescents

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to examine the intrapersonal, social, and physical environmental factors associated with physical activity (PA) practice in Thai adolescents.

METHODS

A total of 5536 adolescents aged 14-17 years participated in the survey. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling were conducted to determine associations between intrapersonal, social, and physical environmental factors with PA.

RESULTS

The mean age of participants was 15.50 (1.12) years. Community environment had an overall effect on PA (β = 0.08). Perceived family support had direct (β = -0.14) and indirect (β = 0.17) effects on PA through perceived barriers (β = 0.14). Perceived barriers were directly related to PA (β = -0.23) and indirectly (β = -0.16) related to PA through self-efficacy (β = -0.14) and through perceived benefits and self-efficacy (β = -0.02). Perceived usefulness was indirectly related to PA through self-efficacy (β = 0.07). Self-efficacy was directly related to PA (β = 0.43). Girls were more likely to report more perceived barriers (βtotal = 0.13). The model explained 45% of the variance in PA.

CONCLUSION

Self-efficacy and perceived barriers are important intrapersonal factors, whereas perceived family support is an important interpersonal factor for PA among Thai adolescents.

School-based physical activity interventions in rural and urban/suburban communities: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Disparities in physical activity and health outcomes exist between urban and rural youth. School settings can be utilized to promote physical activity in youth regardless of urban-rural status. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess and compare the effect of rural and urban/suburban school-based physical activity programs on total physical activity in youth. A search of five databases was conducted. A total of 33 studies remained after the exclusion process, 28 of which took place in urban/suburban schools and five of which took place in rural schools. The DerSimonian and Laird random effects model was employed with the estimates of heterogeneity taken from the inverse-variance fixed-effect model. For rural studies, the Hartung-Knapp-Sidak-Jonkman method was used to obtain error estimates. Results from the total sample indicated a significant but small pooled increase in daily physical activity (Hedge's g = 0.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06-0.18), which held for interventions conducted in urban/suburban schools (Hedge's g = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.06-0.19). For rural school-based interventions, there was no significant pooled effect (Hedge's g = 0.06, 95% CI: -0.50 to 0.61). This meta-analysis provides evidence that school-based interventions can be marginally effective for increasing daily physical activity in children and adolescents; however, no effect was observed for interventions implemented in rural settings.