Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Exercise Sciences, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Charlsena Stone ; submitted to the School of Health and Human Performance. Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-88).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

No description available.

Introduction Physical activity (PA) engagement is highly beneficial for adolescents and although interventions are shown to be effective, participants often return to former PA levels once the intervention is removed. Adolescents may lack explicit training in psychological and behaviour change skills required to sustain PA behaviour changes, such as self-regulation. SR is a key process in psychological functioning and its failure can result in impulse control problems, such as a tendency not to engage in behaviours that require a delay of gratification such as physical activity. Purpose Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an approach that focusses on how to make improvements through a systematic method of learning how to adapt to ever changing environments, i.e. through planning, self-monitoring, effort, self-efficacy, self-evaluation and reflection. Study 1 examined the effectiveness of studies examining SRL variables in a PA context. Study 2 translated and validated an English language SRL questionnaire to measure SRL in a Chinese adolescent population. Study 3 assessed the contribution of SRL variables to PA in both Chinese and Scottish adolescent samples. In preparation for study 5, study 4 qualitatively assessed Chinese students’ motivation for and engagement in PA. Finally, study 5 taught SRL skills in a PA context with the aim of positively impacting on adolescent PA levels. Methods and Results In study 1 a systematic review of the literature was conducted. The majority of reviewed studies demonstrated a positive effect of SRL variables on PA. The review highlighted a lack of research conducted using SRL theory. Study 2 translated and validated a Chinese version of an SRL questionnaire with 315 (and cross-validated with 480) Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The short SRL-SRS-C was found to be a sufficiently reliable instrument to measure SRL in a Hong Kong Chinese adolescent population. In study 3, a cross-sectional study of 480 Hong Kong and 411 Scottish adolescents was conducted to assess the relationship SRL and physical activity. Results revealed that adolescents from Hong Kong and Scotland do not engage in sufficient PA to achieve the potential health benefits that PA can provide. Significantly more use of self-monitoring, self-evaluation and reflection was associated with significantly higher LTPA in Scottish adolescents. In both samples, SRL was weakly but significantly associated with higher PA, and self-efficacy and reflection played significant roles this SRL-PA relationship. Study 4 conducted two qualitative focus group interviews and found that most Chinese adolescents only engaged in PA during limited physical education classes. Most students were knowledgeable of the health benefits of PA, however, academic pressures and the effort required to overcome PA barriers was too great. Students propose that walking more and felt that novel ways to encourage PA, such as through WhatsApp, were worthwhile. Finally, study 4 used a quasi-experimental design with three groups (total n = 98) Hong Kong Chinese secondary school students. Peers modelled SRL skills and the learning was prompted either face-to-face or through Whatsapp. Meaningful, but not significant, mean value increases in PA and SRL were found. SRL was weakly but positive and significantly associated with PA, and reflection emerged as the key SRL component in the SRL-PA relationship. Conclusions SRL and PA are weak, but positive and significantly associated. Importantly, reflection has emerged as a significant predictor of adolescent PA. Adolescents with better SRL and reflective skills may be more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and able to translate this knowledge into future action. Considering that SRL skills are amenable to training, further experimental research should focus on teaching SRL strategies, particularly reflection, and assessing their impact on PA. SRL research in the adolescent PA area is promising but is at an early stage. Therefore, further research is recommended before strong conclusions can be made.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Research has clearly shown that all individuals will benefit from regular physical activity. Unfortunately, young adults including college and university students are not physically active on a regular basis worldwide. In the developing world particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa, physical inactivity along with tobacco use, poor diet and nutrition are increasingly parts of today’s lifestyle. Physical activity declines with age and the most important decline appear to be during the transition period from high school to university and during university years. The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity, to investigate the perceived constraints to physical activity and to determine whether socio-demographic characteristic have an influence on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity among paramedical institutions students in Uganda. A cross-sectional study with descriptive quantitative design was conducted. Four hundred (400) paramedical institution students were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire adopted from the literature was used to collect the data. A response rate of 90% was obtained. Descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences were used to analyze the data. The relationships and associations between different variables were determined by carrying out significant tests using chi-square tests. Alpha level was set at 0.05. The mean age of the sample was 22.44 years (SD = 2.03). Males constituted 73.9% and females constituted 26.1% of the sample. Students from eight (8) health professional courses participated in the study. Over half (59%) of participants were classified as physically active and 41% were classified as inactive or sedentary. For male participants, lack of the right equipment to exercise and wanting to do other things in their free time were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. For female participants, lack of motivation and tiredness after exercise were perceived as the major constraints to physical activity. The findings of this study demonstrate that there is an influence of socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, year of the study and different departments/schools on participation in physical activity and perceived constraints to physical activity. They also indicate the need of health promotion intervention aiming at promoting physical activity among paramedical institution students in Uganda. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Physical inactivity together with overweight and obesity has emerged as a major health risk factor for chronic disease of lifestyle as coronary heart disease, diabetes type 2, and hypertension affecting adolescents with physical disabilities in developed countries. This has contributed to the increase of social and economic costs of healthcare and social services in these countries. Review of literature has revealed that little has been documented about the status of adolescents with physical disabilities in developing countries. This study, therefore, aimed at establishing the degree of physical inactivity among high school adolescents with physical disabilities in Kenya. / South Africa

No description available.

Motivations: Socio-economic status (SES) is a major source of health disparities. Those who lived in resource-deficient social and physical environments and with low individual income have been found to be at increased risk of physical inactivity. In Hong Kong there is virtually no research on the effect of SES on adolescent physical activity (PA). It is therefore important to explore the SES differentials in PA among Hong Kong adolescents and identify the mechanisms underlying such differentials. It is also important to examine the extent to which SES acts as a moderator and mediator of associations between various potential determinants of adolescent PA. Methods: A hundred eighty-one adolescents aged 12-18 were recruited in the study. This study applied an ecological framework to study the SES effects on adolescents’ PA participation. Physical activity was measured both objectively using accelerometers and subjectively using self-reports. Individual, social and school environment factors were assessed by validated self-report measures. Neighborhood built environmental factors were assessed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. Individual-level SES was based on parents’ report of monthly household income, while area-level SES was based on census data on median household income of selected study neighborhoods. Generalized linear models with robust standard errors were used to assess associations of individual, social and environmental factors with adolescents’ PA. They were also used to assess the moderating of SES and mediators of SES-PA relationships. Results: The results supported the hypothesis that individual, social and environmental factors would all contribute to the explanation of adolescents’ PA. Moderation analyses showed that the PA level of adolescents living in low SES areas might have been negatively affected by the presence of steep streets in the neighborhood environment and the lack of sports facilities. These effects were not observed in adolescents living in high SES areas. In contrast, only adolescents living in high-SES areas showed positive associations of school-based social support and school PA-related environment with PA. Mediation analyses showed that SES differences in adolescents PA participation could be explained by social support from family and access to sports/recreational facilities in/around the school. Significance: The current findings would imply that environmental interventions at the neighborhood level might benefit low-SES groups of adolescents as they seem to be more influenced by aspects of the neighborhood environment. By contrast, high-SES adolescents might be more reactive to school-based environmental interventions. To narrow the SES gap in PA participation among Hong Kong adolescents, interventions should encourage low-SES families to provide more support to their children by widening the available range of opportunities for PA, encouraging their children to participate in PA, and acting as role models. The findings from this study also suggest that the provision of more PA facilities in/around school neighborhood in low-SES areas could contribute to increasing PA participation among the adolescent population of such areas and, thus, narrow the gap between high- and low-SES groups of adolescents. / published_or_final_version / Human Performance / Master / Master of Philosophy