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Promotion of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents from the...
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Promotion of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents from the School Setting: Present and Future Challenges

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Pediatric Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2026) | Viewed by 1848

Editors

Dr. Adrián Mateo-Orcajada

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group Movement Sciences and Sport (MS&SPORT), Department of Physical Activity and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Interests: promotion of physical activity; adolescent population; new technologies to promote physical activity; body composition; physical condition; psychological state
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Raquel Vaquero-Cristobal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group Movement Sciences and Sport (MS&SPORT), Department of Physical Activity and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Interests: body composition; kinanthropometric measurement; health; adolescent population; physical condition; promotion of physical activity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Mario Demófilo Albaladejo-Saura

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Sport, Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia (UCAM), Av. De los Jerónimos, 135, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Interests: maturity status; influence of maturation on adolescent development; body composition; kinanthropometric measurement; physical condition; gender differences
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The promotion of physical activity in children and adolescents has been crucial in recent decades, as it has shown beneficial effects on their health (body composition, physical fitness, or psychological state). Despite the available scientific evidence, few studies are based on the promotion of physical activity in the educational environment, which is the place where children and adolescents spend most of their time. For this reason, this Special Issue aims to collect cross-sectional and longitudinal scientific articles, as well as systematic reviews, showing how the promotion of physical activity in school settings can have a relevant impact on adolescent health. Some examples could be active recesses, the promotion of out-of-school physical activity, or awareness talks on healthy habits and how they impact health.

Dr. Adrián Mateo-Orcajada
Prof. Dr. Raquel Vaquero-Cristobal
Dr. Mario Demófilo Albaladejo-Saura
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • adolescents
  • children
  • educational field
  • promotion of physical activity
  • body composition
  • psychological state
  • physical fitness
  • school
  • out of school

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 637 KB  
Article
Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity and School Engagement in Adolescents Attending Rural and Urban Schools in Southern Spain
by José Luis Solas-Martínez, Pablo Ramírez-Espejo, Rosa Gómez-Martínez and Alberto Ruiz-Ariza
Children 2026, 13(8), 1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13081074 - 13 Aug 2026
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a key period for the development of physical activity habits and school-related behaviors. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has been associated with cognitive and educational outcomes, but its relationship with different dimensions of school engagement in rural and urban contexts remains [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a key period for the development of physical activity habits and school-related behaviors. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has been associated with cognitive and educational outcomes, but its relationship with different dimensions of school engagement in rural and urban contexts remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between weekly MVPA and behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement among adolescents attending rural and urban schools in southern Spain. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 282 adolescents (199 from urban schools and 83 from rural schools). School engagement was assessed using the Spanish version of the School Engagement Measure, and weekly MVPA was measured using the PACE+ Adolescent Physical Activity Measure. Adolescents were classified as active or inactive according to whether they reported at least five days per week of MVPA. ANCOVA and binary logistic regression analyses were performed separately by school context, adjusting for age, sex, and BMI. Complementary interaction analyses were conducted to test whether the associations differed across school contexts. Results: No significant differences were found between rural and urban adolescents in MVPA or school engagement. In urban schools, active adolescents showed significantly higher cognitive engagement than inactive adolescents. Lower weekly MVPA was also associated with higher odds of low cognitive engagement in urban adolescents. No significant associations were observed for behavioral or emotional engagement, or among rural adolescents. Conclusions: In subgroup-specific analyses, weekly MVPA was associated with cognitive engagement among adolescents attending urban schools. Given the cross-sectional design, convenience sampling, and self-reported assessment of MVPA, these findings should be interpreted as correlational and cannot establish causality. Moreover, the interaction analyses provided no evidence that the association differed significantly between rural and urban school contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promotion of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents from the School Setting: Present and Future Challenges)
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13 pages, 488 KB  
Article
Postural Stability and Physical Fitness in Preschool Children: Associations with Lower-Limb Muscular Strength, Speed/Agility, and Cardiorespiratory Fitness
by Andrés Godoy-Cumillaf, Josivaldo de Souza-Lima, Frano Giakoni-Ramírez, Catalina Muñoz-Strale, Maribel Parra-Saldias, Daniel Duclos-Bastias, Claudio Farias-Valenzuela, Eugenio Merellano-Navarro and José Bruneau-Chávez
Children 2026, 13(7), 910; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13070910 - 9 Jul 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 394
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Postural stability is considered a key component of motor development during early childhood; however, its specific association with different components of physical fitness in preschool children remains insufficiently explored. This study aimed to evaluate the association between postural stability and physical [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Postural stability is considered a key component of motor development during early childhood; however, its specific association with different components of physical fitness in preschool children remains insufficiently explored. This study aimed to evaluate the association between postural stability and physical fitness components in preschool children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 134 preschool children. Physical fitness was assessed through lower-limb muscular strength (standing long jump), speed/agility (4 × 10 m shuttle run), cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle run), and flexibility (sit-and-reach test). Object-control skills and postural stability were evaluated using selected tasks from the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2. Composite indices were created for object-control skills and postural stability. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and object-control skills. Additional analyses included ANCOVA by postural stability tertiles and sensitivity analyses using HC3 robust standard errors, exclusion of influential observations, and bootstrap resampling. Results: Greater postural stability was independently associated with better lower-limb muscular strength (B = 9.49; 95% CI: 4.39–14.60; p ≤ 0.001) and cardiorespiratory fitness (B = 0.27; 95% CI: 0.06–0.49; p = 0.014). An association with speed/agility was observed in the primary model but lost statistical significance in sensitivity analyses. No significant association was found with flexibility. ANCOVA analyses confirmed significant differences across postural stability tertiles for lower-limb muscular strength (p = 0.033) and cardiorespiratory fitness (p = 0.011). Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of the associations for lower-limb muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness. Conclusions: Greater postural stability was consistently associated with better lower-limb muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness in preschool children. These findings suggest that postural stability is associated with selected components of physical fitness during early childhood. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to clarify the direction and potential implications of these associations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promotion of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents from the School Setting: Present and Future Challenges)
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Other

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19 pages, 691 KB  
Systematic Review
Criterion and Convergent Validity of Youth Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Questionnaires in School Settings: A Systematic Review of Current Evidence and Future Perspectives
by Mégane Gagnon, Salma Bouqartacha, Éloane Bédard, Livia Delattre, Martin Descarreaux and Roseane de Fátima Guimarães
Children 2026, 13(7), 931; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13070931 - 15 Jul 2026
Viewed by 686
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Physical activity and sedentary behavior are key indicators of youth health, and questionnaires offer a cost-effective method for data collection. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the criterion and convergent validity of self-report questionnaires measuring physical activity and sedentary behavior in children [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Physical activity and sedentary behavior are key indicators of youth health, and questionnaires offer a cost-effective method for data collection. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the criterion and convergent validity of self-report questionnaires measuring physical activity and sedentary behavior in children and adolescents aged 5–18 years in school settings. Methods: Searches were conducted in SPORTDiscus, Medline, Scopus, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, Education Source, and the Cochrane Library with no date limits. Included studies compared questionnaire results with established measures and were assessed using the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments (COSMIN) checklist. Results: Twenty-two studies covering 16 questionnaires were included; additional outcomes included test–retest reliability, content and construct validity, and psychometric evaluation. Validity correlations ranged from very weak to strong (r = 0.11–0.80; ρ = 0.20–0.87), with Bland–Altman agreement (ρ = 0.56–0.70) and mean absolute percentage error up to 199.6%. Conclusions: Eight questionnaires showed acceptable validity and reliability, though research is needed to strengthen evidence on measurement accuracy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promotion of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents from the School Setting: Present and Future Challenges)
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