Body image, body composition and environment: do they affect adolescents' physical activity?

How Do Different Urban Footpath Environments Affect the Jogging Preferences of Residents of Different Genders? Empirical Research Based on Trajectory Data

In recent years, the impact of the urban environment on residents' physical activity (PA) has received extensive attention, but whether this impact has differences in the jogging preferences of residents in different footpath environments and different genders requires further research. Therefore, based on jogging trajectory data, this paper uses the grouping multiple linear regression model to study the different influencing factors of different footpath environments on the jogging of residents of different genders. The results show that (1) jogging activities (JA) were mainly concentrated in the community footpath environment, and its peak was reached at night; (2) the rise and fall of elements in built environments, social environments, and natural environments significantly affected the relative jogging distance of residents; (3) Residential land density (RLD) has a positive impact on the JA of community and green land footpaths and has a negative impact on the JA of urban footpaths. However, arterial road density (ARD) and bus distance density (BDD) have opposite significant effects on the JA of communities and green land footpaths; (4) ARD has the significant opposite effect on the JA for residents of different genders on urban footpaths and community footpaths. Facilities diversity (FD), population density (PD), and bus stop density (BSD) also had significant opposite effects on the JA of residents of different genders on green land footpaths. In general, we put forward a method theory to identify the footpath environment and provide references for improving the layout and construction of different gender residents for different footpath environment elements.

Does it fit better? Measures of physical activity among adolescents in relation to health indicators

BACKGROUND

Measuring physical activity (PA) is one of the pillars of successful health promotion; however, we struggle to find a tool enabling the identification of risk groups. The current standard approach of assessing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) every day does this inadequately. The aim of this study is to explore whether three other indicators of adolescents' PA can identify such risk groups in a better way.

METHODS

We used data on 888 11- to 15-year-old adolescents (mean age = 13.5, 56% boys) from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study conducted in 2018 in Slovakia. Sufficient PA was indicated by the following four indicators: (i) MVPA every day, (ii) MVPA 5-7 days a week, (iii) engagement in organized sports (team or individual) and (iv) combining MVPA 5-7 days a week and engagement in organized sports. We used binary logistic regression analysis to assess the association of various indicators of adolescents' PA with body composition, cardiovascular fitness and self-rated health (SRH), considering age and gender.

RESULTS

Being active based on various indicators was associated with better health outcomes, with the strongest associations for the indicator combining MVPA 5-7 days a week and engagement in organized sports. The only exceptions were the non-significant associations of active adolescents (being active 5-7 days per week or engaged in organized sports) with cardiovascular fitness and SRH.

CONCLUSIONS

Measuring PA using an indicator that combines MVPA 5-7 days a week and engagement in organized sports is the most valid using three health indicators as criteria.