Weight concerns and dieting are prevalent among female adolescents both in Western and Asian countries. They can result in negative psychological and physiological consequences. This study aimed to examine the relative importance of social and personal factors in the decision to diet among female adolescent students in Japan, applying the Theory of Planned Behavior. Data were collected from fiv...

OBJECTIVES Our aim was to determine the normative reference values of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and to establish the proportion of subjects with low CRF suggestive of future cardio-metabolic risk. METHODS A total of 7244 children and adolescents attending public schools in Bogota, Colombia (55.7% girls; age range of 9-17.9 years) participated in this study. We expressed CRF performance ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) in adolescents so as to provide a scientific basis for the communities, schools, and families. METHODS We conducted a survey by randomized cluster sampling on 5,249 students, grades ranging from 7 to 12, in Anhui province, People's Republic of China. The questionnaire con...

INTRODUCTION Exposure to anti-smoking messages is strongly associated with lower smoking initiation by adolescents. However, few anti-smoking efforts have involved message generation by adolescents themselves. This article presents a content analysis of anti-smoking posters created by middle school students in two northeastern schools in the United States. Understanding how smoking prevention m...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present research was to determine whether depression and interpersonal problems had relationships with alexithymia and coping styles in adolescents. METHODS The study population was randomly selected from all of the adolescent students in the schools of Sari in Iran; 441 adolescents (228 boys and 213 girls) were included in the study. The participants completed the To...

BACKGROUND Knowledge about patterns of participation can be used to highlight groups of children and adolescents with low attendance, or low involvement in activities and who may therefore be at risk of mental or physical health concerns. This study used the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) and the Preferences for Activity of Children (PAC) to describe the patterns of...

Research was conducted among 628 primary school pupils from the first to the fourth grade (7-10 years of age) in order to determine preferences for play and kinesiological leisure activities among early school-age children, i.e. children at the age subsequent to preschool age where play is a primary means of impact on a person’s overall anthropological status. The obtained results point to a po...

Is medical school only for the rich? T imes are getting tough in Canada for those who aspire to a post-secondary education but are not from wealthy families. Surveys done at the University of Western Ontario reveal that medical students are a privileged crew, coming from homes with family incomes in the top few percentiles. This phenomenon has intensified dramatically in the last few years, coi...

BACKGROUND Adolescents increasingly use the Internet for communication, education, entertainment, and other purposes in varying degrees. Given their vulnerable age, they may be prone to Internet addiction. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to identify possible differences in the purpose of Internet use among adolescents with respect to age subgroup, country of residence, and gender and the distribution o...

BACKGROUND Despite much interest in understanding the influence of contexts on health, most research has focused on one context at a time, ignoring the reality that individuals have simultaneous memberships in multiple settings. METHOD Using the example of smoking behavior among adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we applied cross-classified multilevel modelin...