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Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 May 2024 | Viewed by 4362

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sabrina Masotti

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Guest Editor

Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, FE, ‎Italy
Interests: anthropometry; physical activity; body image

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Physical activity has been associated with numerous health benefits in children and adolescents. Regular physical activity improves bone health, weight status, cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, cardiometabolic health, cognition, self- esteem, and leads to a reduced risk of depression and depressed mood. Physical activity is a tool for maintaining physical and mental balance and is an important issue from a public health perspective. The World Health Organization guidelines recommend at least an average of 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity, mostly aerobic, physical activity across the week for children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years old.

This Special Issue aims to gather scientific evidence that advances our knowledge about strategies and interventions to assess, improve, and promote physical activity in children and adolescents.

Authors are invited to contribute to this issue by submitting original research, review articles, short reports, brief commentaries, case reports, and meta-analysis related to the health benefits of physical activity in children and adolescents.

Dr. Sabrina Masotti
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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

physical activity
body image
weight status
body composition
anthropometry
exercise
public health
health-related intervention
mental health
exercise psychology

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 683 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Rating of Perceived Exertion—Pediatric (RPE-P) Scale: Preliminary Validation

by Brynn LiaBraaten, Stacy Stolzman, Pippa M. Simpson, Liyun Zhang, Taylor Brockman, Nina Linneman, Steven J. Weisman and Keri R. Hainsworth

Children 2023, 10(12), 1906; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10121906 - 10 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1103

Abstract

Physical activity is critical to functional rehabilitation for youth with chronic pain, which may be especially true for those with co-occurring obesity. To facilitate the development of physical activity interventions for youth with chronic pain, the newly developed “Rating of Perceived Exertion—Pediatric” scale was modeled after the widely used pain numeric rating scale-11. This study is an initial evaluation of the scale in a sample of adolescents (n = 157, 13–17 years, 51% female) with four subgroups: (1) healthy controls (healthy weight/no pain); (2) chronic pain/healthy weight; (3) obese (no pain); (4) chronic pain/obese. Participants rated perceived exertion using the new scale and the Borg 6–20 Scale of Perceived Exertion while holding a three-minute yoga pose (Warrior II). In the whole sample, the Perceived Exertion—Pediatric scale showed good concurrent (p < 0.001), convergent (all ps < 0.05), discriminant (p = 0.431), and known-groups validity (all ps < 0.05). The chronic pain subgroup also showed good concurrent (p < 0.001), mixed convergent (ps < 0.001 to 0.315), and good discriminant validity (p = 0.607). Limitations include the restricted age range, lack of diversity, and lack of test-retest reliability. The RPE-P shows promise as an assessment tool for perceived exertion in adolescents with and without chronic pain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents)

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13 pages, 325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sports Practice, Body Image Perception, and Factors Involved in Sporting Activity in Italian Schoolchildren

by Luciana Zaccagni, Luca Rosa, Stefania Toselli and Emanuela Gualdi-Russo

Children 2023, 10(12), 1850; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10121850 - 25 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 836

Abstract

Regular physical activity is generally deemed to positively affect health, but studies on children are scarce. Among the kinds of physical activity, sports practice is the most common and easiest to quantify and report by children. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the two genders and evaluate the association between organized sports practice and body dissatisfaction in a sample of 214 Italian schoolchildren (55.6% males) aged 5 to 12. Body image perception and data on sports practice expectations and facilitators were collected in individual face-to-face interviews; weight and stature were directly measured. Girls tended to be sportier than boys (91.6% of girls vs. 86.3% of boys practiced sports), with an earlier start in sports (5.48 ± 1.47 vs. 5.72 ± 1.38 years) and a greater amount of weekly sports (3.41 ± 2.95 vs. 3.01 ± 2.11 h/week). In both genders, the ideal silhouette was more slender than the feel silhouette, and in girls more than in boys. According to the outcomes of multiple regression models, years of organized sports participation were a significant predictor of the weekly amount of sports in both genders, in addition to the feel weight status minus actual weight status inconsistency score, fun in sports, and parental support only in boys and teacher support only in girls. Children’s needs and interests and sports facilitators should be considered to promote an early active lifestyle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents)

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Graphical abstract

12 pages, 632 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Physical Activity Counselling on Children with Medical Conditions and Disabilities and Their Families

by Hannah C. Cummings, Jordan Merkas, Jenna Yaraskavitch and Patricia E. Longmuir

Children 2023, 10(8), 1293; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10081293 - 27 Jul 2023

Viewed by 759

Abstract

Physical activity counselling can target cognitive-affective participation barriers, but counselling benefits for children with medical conditions/disabilities were unknown. This study investigated successes, challenges, and the impact of physical activity counselling on children and their families. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were completed with 7 patients (2 male/5 female, aged 13–17) and 4 parents who participated in 2–8 weekly counselling sessions (2015–2020). Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim for inductive thematic analyses. Counselling encouraged positive mindset changes (viewing physical activity more holistically, making it “more fun and manageable”, helping them to “learn how to love moving and doing sports”). Participants felt strong support (feeling heard, validated, and provided with “hope… that we can still achieve things… even though it may seem like there’s limitations”). Counselling was viewed positively. The intent to improve active lifestyle attitudes and confidence was reflected in positive, primarily cognitive-affective (motivation for activity, “more general skills of having a positive attitude towards physical activity and the willingness to try new things”) outcomes. More sessions, additional resources to keep, and follow-up after counselling completion were recommended to support behaviour change. Future research should evaluate enhanced counselling services and comparing children who have and have not received such counselling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents)

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Review

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26 pages, 618 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Relationship between Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, Cognition, and Academic Outcomes in School-Aged Latino Children: A Scoping Review

by J. P. Marrero-Rivera, Olivia Sobkowiak, Aimee Sgourakis Jenkins, Stefano J. Bagnato, Christopher E. Kline, Benjamin DH Gordon and Sharon E. Taverno Ross

Children 2024, 11(3), 363; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11030363 - 19 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1135

Abstract

This scoping review provides an overview of the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness, cognition, and academic outcomes in Latino school-aged children and identifies areas for future research. A primary search was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and ERIC for original-research articles meeting the inclusion criteria; the search results were uploaded into PICO Portal and assessed by two independent reviewers. Of the 488 initial search results, 50 articles were eligible for full-text review, and 38 were included in this review. Most studies were cross-sectional, conducted in the United States or Chile, and included children 5–18 years old. Overall, the majority of articles reported positive associations between physical activity or physical fitness and cognitive outcomes (n = 11/12; 91.7%), and physical activity or physical fitness and academic outcomes (n = 22/28; 78.6%). In sum, this review provided consistent evidence for higher amounts of physical activity and greater physical fitness to be associated with various positive cognitive and academic outcomes in a school-aged Latino population. This scoping review also elucidated a substantial gap in the research regarding study design, with a discernible lack of interventional efforts. Future studies should test physical activity interventional strategies to optimize cognitive and academic outcomes in school-aged Latino populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents)

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