Associations of friendship and children's physical activity during and outside of school: A social network study.

Friendships play a significant role in child development and may influence children's physical activity (PA). Using a whole-network approach, this study examined whether school-based friends are more similar in their pedometer-measured PA compared to children who are not friends, and whether these patterns vary by gender, strength of friendship (best vs. close friends), and during vs.

Long-term effects of comprehensive school health on health-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, health behaviours and weight status of adolescents.

Background: APPLE Schools is a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) project, started in schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas where dietary habits are poor, physical activity (PA) levels are low, and obesity rates are high. Earlier research showed program effects whereby energy intake, PA and weight status of students in APPLE Schools had reached similar levels as that of students in other schools. However, it is unknown whether the effects of CSH are sustained when children grow into adolescents.

Influence of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet quality in childhood on the incidence of internalizing and externalizing disorders during adolescence: a population-based cohort study.

Purpose: Studies among youth suggest that physical inactivity, sedentary behaviors, and poor diet quality are associated with poor mental health. Few population-based studies have investigated these relationships longitudinally. We examined the association between physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and diet quality in childhood and the incidence of internalizing and externalizing disorders throughout adolescence.

Does School-Based Health Promotion Affect Physical Activity on Weekends? And, Does It Reach Those Students Most in Need of Health Promotion?

Objective: To determine whether a school-based health promotion program affects children's weekend physical activity and whether this effect varies according to socioeconomic-status.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental trial of school-based programs on physical activity levels implemented in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Alberta, Canada. In 2009 and 2011, 7 full days of pedometer data were collected from cross-sectional samples of grade 5 students (age 10-11 years) from 10 intervention schools in low-socioeconomic neighbourhoods and 20 comparison schools in middle-socioeconomic neighbourhoods.