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Dear Colleagues,

The pandemic declared at the beginning of 2020 transformed the lifestyle of the world population, applying restrictions on mobility and social contact. Currently, although society is recovering its lifestyle, it is observed that the lack of physical activity as well as sedentary behavior in children, young people and adults are still evident. Physical activity is a fundamental element for the personal, social and emotional well-being of our society, and that is why it must be present in our lifestyle. In this sense, there are multiple factors related to the lack of physical activity and an increase in sedentary behavior in our society; therefore, it is necessary to know the risk factors and other associated variables to alleviate this problem in children, youth and adults. In addition, these risk factors and other associated variables will give us the keys to create and carry out interventions that cause changes in behavior and healthy lifestyles.

Therefore, through this Special Issue entitled “Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Children, Youth and Adults: Risk Factors and Other Associated Variables—Second Edition”, we invite you to submit your contributions aimed at supporting the need to maintain an active lifestyle in children, youth and adults, knowing the risk factors and other variables associated with physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors and proposing and implementing interventions to solve this problem. Specifically, we welcome research that provides relevant scientific evidence on topics such as:

Physical activity;
Sedentary behavior;
Health behaviors;
New technologies, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle;
Interventions to support behavior and lifestyle changes;
Benefits of physical activity in different contexts;
Interventions for the improvement of quality of life through physical activity;
Risk factors and variables associated with physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle;
Psychosocial variables associated with physical inactivity and sedentary behavior;
Physical education as a tool to encourage physical activity and avoid sedentary behavior.

Dr. Carmen Fernández Echeverría
Dr. Jara Gonzalez-Silva
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 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. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
sedentary behavior
health
healthcare
physical education
lifestyle changes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 729 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Analysis of Physical Activity, Performance-Related Health, and Academic Achievements in 11-to-13-Year-Old Schoolchildren in Qatar

by Souhail Hermassi, Sascha Ketelhut, Ferman Konukman, Maha Sellami, Senaid Al-Marri, Claudio R. Nigg and René Schwesig

Healthcare 2024, 12(5), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12050588 - 04 Mar 2024

Viewed by 650

Abstract

Age-related differences in physical activity (PA), maturity status (PHV), physical performance (PP), and academic achievement (AA) among schoolchildren in Qatar were examined. Sixty-nine students from a school in Doha were categorized into three equal (n = 23) groups: 11-year-old students (U11; male: n = 14), 12-year-old students (U12: male: n = 7), and 13-year-old students (U13: male: n = 11). The testing process comprised a medicine ball throw, Stork balance test, hand grip strength test, the T-half test (PP), GPA in Arabic, mathematics, science (AA), International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (PA), and Moore’s equations (PHV). Relevant age-related differences (p < 0.001) were identified in mathematics, science, the T-half test, maturity, and arm span. Notably, differences between adjacent age groups were evident between U11 and U12, concerning arm span, maturity, mathematics, and science, and between U12 and U13 (the T-half test, mathematics, science). Concerning AP, the performance maxima were calculated for U12 (mathematics, science) and U11 (Arabic). Regarding PP, performance maxima were only observed for U13. Except for the moderate level, the highest levels of PA were detected in U13. Maturity status and anthropometric parameters did not differ significantly between age groups. However, AA demonstrated the most notable age-related differences. Specifically, mathematics showed substantial differences between adjacent age groups. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Children, Youth and Adults: Risk Factors and Other Associated Variables—Second Edition)

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19 pages, 1063 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations between Parental Educational Attainment, Children’s 24-h Behaviors and Children’s Hyperactivity Behavior in the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Meiyuan Chen, Michael Chia, Terence Chua, Zhi Shen, Mengke Kang, Lu Chen, Tiantian Tong and Xiaozan Wang

Healthcare 2024, 12(5), 516; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12050516 - 21 Feb 2024

Viewed by 816

Abstract

Background: Parental Educational Attainment and children’s 24-h behaviors significantly influenced children’s hyperactivity symptoms. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of children’s 24-h behavior changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic between Parental Educational Attainment and children’s hyperactivity index. It also aimed to investigate the associations between Children’s Physical Activity, digital media use, sleep, and hyperactivity index between two clusters of Parental Educational Attainments. The goal was to provide targeted behavioral optimization recommendations for caregivers to reduce the risk of children’s hyperactivity. Methods: The study was a collaborative extension of the International iPreschooler Surveillance Study Among Asians and otheRs project and the Chinese Children and Adolescent Sports Health Promotion Action Project. The Parent-Surveillance of Digital Media in Childhood Questionnaire^® and the Abbreviated Rating Scales from the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire were used to measure Parental Educational Attainment, children’s behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and hyperactivity indexes. A total of 11,190 parents of 6-to-12-year-old children completed the online surveys in mainland China. A structural equation model was established by using Smart-PLS, and the linear regression model, and isotemporal substitution models were established by using a Compositional Data Analysis package with R program to achieve the research objectives. Results: Changes in children’s 24-h behaviors due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant mediation effect on the negative associations between Parental Educational Attainment and children’s hyperactivity index (β = 0.018, T = 4.521, p < 0.001) with a total effect (β = −0.046, T = 4.521, p < 0.001) and a direct effect (β = −0.064, T = 6.330, p < 0.001). Children’s Digital Media use was significantly and negatively associated with hyperactivity index among all children. Reallocated time from digital media use to both sleep and physical activity decreased the hyperactivity index, and vice-versa. For parents without tertiary education (R² = 0.09, p < 0.001), sleep was significantly and negatively associated with the hyperactivity index (β_ilr-CSL = −0.06, p < 0.001); for parents with tertiary education (R² = 0.07, p < 0.001), physical activity was significantly and negatively associated with the hyperactivity index (β_ilr-CPA = −0.05, p < 0.001), and sleep was significantly and positively associated with the hyperactivity index (β_ilr-CSL = 0.03, p < 0.001). A significant increase in the hyperactivity index was detected when physical activity time was reallocated to sleep, with a significant decrease in the opposite direction. Conclusions: Parental Educational Attainment and children’s 24-h behaviors directly influenced children’s hyperactivity index. However, a purposeful and targeted optimization of children’s 24-h behaviors—namely, physical activity, digital media use, and sleep—could assist parents with different educational attainments to reduce their children’s hyperactivity index and mitigate the risk of hyperactivity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Children, Youth and Adults: Risk Factors and Other Associated Variables—Second Edition)

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