Effects of a life skills intervention for increasing physical activity in adolescent girls.
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.
Young
Deborah Rohm
DR
Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. dryoung@umd.edu
Phillips
Jennie A
JA
Yu
Tao
T
Haythornthwaite
Jennifer A
JA
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