Objectively assessed recess physical activity in girls and boys from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Background: The school environment influences children's opportunities for physical activity participation. The aim of the present study was to assess objectively measured school recess physical activity in children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Methods: Four hundred and seven children (6-11 years old) from 4 primary schools located in high socioeconomic status (high-SES) and low socioeconomic status (low-SES) areas participated in the study.

Effects of a playground marking intervention on school recess physical activity in French children.

Objective: Playground interventions offer an opportunity to enhance school recess physical activity. We aimed to assess the effects of playground marking on objectively measured school recess physical activity in French children.

Methods: Participants were four hundred and twenty children (6-11years old) from 4 primary schools in Nord-Pas de Calais, France.

Is there any relationship between physical activity level and patterns, and physical performance in children?

Background: It is often assumed that physical activity (PA) and physical performance during childhood and adolescence are beneficial for health during adulthood, but a positive relationship between PA and physical performance has not been precisely clarified in children. The lack or the weakness of the relationships between PA and physical performance could be due to the measure of PA. If the use of accelerometry is considered as an objective and common measure of PA, the real patterns of children's habitual PA must be reflected.

Physical activity patterns in French youth--from childhood to adolescence--monitored with high-frequency accelerometry.

Objectives: To investigate changes in time spent in light (LPA), moderate (MPA), vigorous (VPA), very high physical activity (VHPA) from childhood to adolescence, according to age and sex, when measured with high frequency accelerometry.

Methods: Three hundred and sixty-one children, 94 preschoolers (Ps), 156 from primary schools (PS) and 111 from junior high schools (JHS)) were involved in this study. The children's physical activity was assessed with a uniaxial accelerometer over a seven-day period.