Promoting Children's Physical Activity in Low-Income Communities in Colorado: What Are the Barriers and Opportunities?

Introduction: Colorado has the highest rate of adult physical activity in the United States. However, children in Colorado have a lower rate of physical activity relative to other states, and the rate is lowest among children in low-income households. We conducted focus groups, surveys, and interviews with parents, youth, and stakeholders to understand barriers to physical activity among children in low-income households in Colorado and to identify opportunities to increase physical activity.

Obesity and food insecurity at the same table: how head start programs respond.

Introduction: Head Start is a federally funded early childhood education program that serves just over 900,000 US children, many of whom are at risk for obesity, are living in food insecure households, or both. The objective of this study was to describe Head Start practices related to assessing body mass index (BMI), addressing food insecurity, and determining portion sizes at meals.

Methods: A survey was mailed in 2008 to all eligible Head Start programs (N = 1,810) as part of the Study of Healthy Activity and Eating Practices and Environments in Head Start.

Reaching staff, parents, and community partners to prevent childhood obesity in Head Start, 2008.

Introduction: Lowering the prevalence of childhood obesity requires a multilevel approach that targets the home, school, and community. Head Start, the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the United States, reaches nearly 1 million low-income children, and it provides an ideal opportunity for implementing such an approach. Our objective was to describe obesity prevention activities in Head Start that are directed at staff, parents, and community partners.

Barriers to obesity prevention in Head Start.

Head Start provides early childhood education to nearly one million low-income children, through federal grants to more than 2,000 local programs. About one-third of children who enter Head Start are overweight or obese. But program directors face difficulty in implementing policies and practices to address obesity-and in our national survey, they identified the key barriers as lack of time, money, and knowledge.

A national survey of obesity prevention practices in Head Start.

Objective: To describe obesity prevention practices and environments in Head Start, the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the United States.

Design: Self-administered survey as part of the Study of Healthy Activity and Eating Practices and Environments in Head Start (SHAPES).

Setting: Head Start, 2008.

School food environments and policies in US public schools.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe school food environments and policies in US public schools and how they vary according to school characteristics.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the third School Nutrition and Dietary Assessment study by using a nationally representative sample of 395 US public schools in 129 school districts in 38 states. These 2005 data included school reports of foods and beverages offered in the National School Lunch Program and on-site observations, in a subsample of schools, of competitive foods and beverages (those sold in vending machines and a la carte and that are not part of the National School Lunch Program).

Reliability and validity of YRBS physical activity items among middle school students.

Purpose: To assess test-retest reliability and validity of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) items for moderate and vigorous physical activity in middle school students.

Methods: Students (N = 125; 12.7 +/- 0.

Socioeconomic differences in adolescent stress: the role of psychological resources.

Purpose: To investigate whether psychological resources influenced the association between parent education (PE), a marker of socioeconomic status (SES), and perceived stress.

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted in a sample of 1167 non-Hispanic black and white junior and senior high school students from a Midwestern public school district in 2002-2003. Hierarchical multivariable regression analyses examined relationships between PE (high school graduate or less = E1, > high school, < college = E2, college graduate = E3, and professional degree = E4), and psychological resources (optimism and coping style) on teens' perceived stress.

Social status, stress, and adolescent smoking.

Purpose: Adolescent smoking is associated with increased perceived stress and lower social status, but past research has not explored links between lower social status, stress, and smoking risk. This study examined whether the relation between social status and perceived stress could explain the association between lower social status and increased risk of smoking.

Methods: Data were collected from 1021 non-Hispanic black and white adolescents participating in a longitudinal school-based study.