title: Effects of a life skills intervention for increasing physical activity in adolescent girls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although adolescence is a time when physical activity levels decline, few interventions have targeted high school-aged girls in the school setting.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effects of a life skills-oriented physical activity intervention for increasing overall physical activity in high school-aged girls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Baltimore magnet high school.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 221 ninth-grade girls, 83.0% of whom were African American. Intervention Participants were randomized to an 8-month physical intervention conducted in physical education class or to a standard physical education class (control).
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported estimated daily energy expenditure (physical activity), self-reported sedentary activities (television viewing and computer or Internet use), cardiorespiratory fitness, and selected cardiovascular disease risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intervention classes spent 46.9% of physical education class time in moderate to vigorous activity compared with 30.5% of time for control classes (P<.001). There were no significant between-treatment group differences for mean daily energy expenditure (P = .93), moderate-intensity energy expenditure (P = .77), or hard to very hard energy expenditure (P = .69). The proportion of participants who spent 3 or more hours viewing television during school days declined from 22.3% to 17.0% in the intervention group, but remained at 26.7% for the control group (P = .03). Both groups improved their cardiorespiratory fitness (P<.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A life skills-oriented physical education curriculum may need to be combined with other approaches to increase the magnitude of effects on physical activity behavior in predominantly African American high school-aged girls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. dryoung@umd.edu
authors.forename: Deborah Rohm
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Jennie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Haythornthwaite
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000379:methods*; D010809:Physical Fitness; D013690:Television