Association of the home environment with cardiovascular and metabolic biomarkers in youth.

Objective: To examine the relationship between the home environment and biomarkers associated with the cardiovascular and metabolic risks in adolescents.

Methods: Three hundred fifty-eight adolescents (185 males and 173 females) living in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, between the ages of 10-17 years agreed to participate. Data were collected from August 2006 through March 2008.

Influence of limit-setting and participation in physical activity on youth screen time.

Objectives: To examine the associations of demographics, rules associated with television-viewing, and physical activity with daily screen time (including television, non-school-related computer use, and video games) in children and adolescents.

Methods: We analyzed data from a telephone survey of 7415 youth aged 9 to 15 years from the Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey. We used logistic regression models to calculate odds of exceeding recommended screen-time limits (>120 minutes/day) according to demographics, rules, and physical activity.

Evaluating a model of youth physical activity.

Objective: To explore the relationship between social influences, self-efficacy, enjoyment, and barriers and physical activity.

Methods: Structural equation modeling examined relationships between parent and peer support, parent physical activity, individual perceptions, and objectively measured physical activity using accelerometers among a sample of youth aged 10-17 years (N = 720).

Results: Peer support, parent physical activity, and perceived barriers were directly related to youth activity.

Inventory versus checklist approach to assess middle school à la carte food availability.

Background: The purpose of this research is to evaluate 2 methods of assessing foods available on school à la carte lines for schools' ability to assess the proportion of foods that are healthful options.

Methods: This observational study used data collected at 38 middle schools, October 2006-May 2007. An inventory method was used to collect detailed information of items available on each school's à la carte line, followed by a simplified checklist form.

The validation of a home food inventory.

Background: Home food inventories provide an efficient method for assessing home food availability; however, few are validated. The present study's aim was to develop and validate a home food inventory that is easily completed by research participants in their homes and includes a comprehensive range of both healthful and less healthful foods that are associated with obesity.

Methods: A home food inventory (HFI) was developed and tested with two samples.

Testing a hierarchy-of-effects model: pathways from awareness to outcomes in the VERB campaign 2002-2003.

Background: The McGuire hierarchy-of-effects (HOE) model, used extensively in mass-media interventions to describe the mechanisms for understanding effects, has not been tested in physical activity campaigns.

Design: Data collected at baseline (2002) and follow-up (2003) surveys in the VERB evaluation were used in structural equation modeling to test pathways and hierarchies of campaign effects.

Setting/participants: Population-based cohort of youth aged 9-13 years (N=2364) for whom complete baseline and follow-up data were available.

Overview of formative, process, and outcome evaluation methods used in the VERB campaign.

Evaluation was an integral part of the VERB campaign. This paper describes the array of evaluation methods used to support the development, implementation, and assessment of campaign activities. The evaluation of VERB consisted of formative, process, and outcome evaluations and involved both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Bringing "play" to life: the use of experiential marketing in the VERB campaign.

Given the abundance of advertising and media that children and adolescents are exposed to today, it is increasingly important to incorporate nontraditional channels and venues in strategies designed to reach them. One such channel that the CDC's VERB campaign employed was experiential marketing, which is defined here as a live event or experience that gives the target audience the opportunity to see a product and experience it for themselves. Experiential marketing and the tactics that the VERB campaign used to reach children aged 9-13 years (tweens) with health messages about physical activity are described, including a discussion about how other public health campaigns might use experiential marketing and other commercial marketing techniques to reach the public with public health messages.

Reliability and validity of questions on the youth media campaign longitudinal survey.

Purpose: The study evaluated the reliability and validity of the physical activity questions in the Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey (YMCLS), a nationally representative survey of 9- to 13-yr-old youth.

Methods: The participants were 192 youth aged 9-13 yr (93 males and 99 females) in grades 4-8 from eight schools in a large, ethnically diverse school district. Participants completed two YMCLS phone interviews, which were administered 1 wk apart by trained interviewers.

Evaluation of a national physical activity intervention for children: VERB campaign, 2002-2004.

Background: Amid concern for the consequences of physical inactivity among children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started a campaign using commercial marketing methods to promote physical activity to children.

Design: Longitudinal study using a telephone survey to assess physical activity behaviors and attitudes at baseline and for 2 years of follow-up. Relationships of campaign awareness to behavioral and psychosocial effects were analyzed with use of propensity scoring.

Reducing children's television-viewing time: a qualitative study of parents and their children.

Objectives: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children over age 2 years spend < or = 2 hours per day with screen media, because excessive viewing has been linked to a plethora of physical, academic, and behavioral problems. The primary goal of this study was to qualitatively explore how a recommendation to limit television viewing might be received and responded to by a diverse sample of parents and their school-age children.

Methods: The study collected background data about media use, gathered a household media inventory, and conducted in-depth individual and small group interviews with 180 parents and children ages 6 to 13 years old.

Correlates of physical activity in a national sample of children aged 9-13 years.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is critical for children's normal growth and development. The purpose of this study was to assess potential correlates of physical activity in a US national sample of youth aged 9-13 years.

Methods: A nationally representative telephone survey of parent-child pairs was conducted from April through June 2002.

Effects of a mass media campaign to increase physical activity among children: year-1 results of the VERB campaign.

Objective: To determine the effects of a mass media campaign on the levels of physical activity among children 9 to 13 years of age.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal, quasi-experimental design was used. A baseline survey was conducted in April to June 2002, before the launch of VERB advertising.

The VERB campaign logic model: a tool for planning and evaluation.

The VERB campaign uses a logic model as a tool to share information, to facilitate program planning, and to provide direction for evaluation. Behavior change and communication theories are incorporated to help hypothesize how behavior change might occur. Evaluation of the campaign follows the process of the logic model.

VERB - a social marketing campaign to increase physical activity among youth.

The VERB campaign is a multiethnic media campaign with a goal to increase and maintain physical activity among tweens, or children aged nine to 13 years. Parents, especially mothers aged 29 to 46, and other sources of influence on tweens (e.g.

Validity of a modified CHAMPS physical activity questionnaire among African-Americans.

Purpose: Valid methods for assessing physical activity (PA) patterns are essential for accurate evaluation of intervention programs and population surveillance. Numerous self-report PA instruments have been validated in white adults; however, few studies have reported validity in African-Americans.

Methods: Data are from the Healthy Body/Healthy Spirit Trial, a study to increase fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity among adults in 17 black churches.