Introduction: Previous longitudinal studies indicate that physical activity (PA) significantly declines from primary-to secondary school, and report both changes in individual and environmental determinants of PA. In order to understand this transition and to prevent this negative trend, it is important to gather contextually rich data on possible mechanisms that drive this decline. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate changes of PA patterns in transition between primary and secondary school, and to add domain-specific insights of how, where, and when these changes occur. Methods: In total, 175 children participated in a 7-day accelerometer- and Global Positioning System (GPS) protocol at their last year of primary and their first year of secondary school. GPS data-points were overlaid with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data using ArcGIS 10.1 software. Based on the GPS locations of individual data-points, we identified child’s PA at home, school, local sports grounds, shopping centers, and other locations. Also, trips in active and passive transport were identified according to previously validated GPS speed-algorithms. Longitudinal multi-level linear mixed models were fitted adjusting for age, gender, meteorological circumstances, and the nested structure of days within children and children within schools. Outcome measures were minutes spent in light PA and moderate-to-vigorous PA, specified for the time-segments before school, during school, after school and weekend days. Results: Total PA significantly declined from primary to secondary school. Although transport-related PA increased before- and during school, decreases were found for especially afterschool time spent at sports grounds and transport-related PA during weekends. Conclusions: This is the first study that demonstrated longitudinal changes of context- and domain-specific PA patterns in transition between primary and secondary school, based on device-assessed PA. Given the importance of this transition-period for the development of long-term PA patterns, results from this study warrant the development of evidence-based PA programs in this transition period, while acknowledging the integrative role of schools, parents, and afterschool sports providers. More specifically, the results underline the need to increase children’s PA levels in primary schools, promote afterschool PA at secondary schools, and to prevent the drop-out in sports participation at secondary schools.

A natural and cheap way of increasing children’s physical activity is stimulating unstructured outside play.

O examine the influence of daily weather elements on intraindividual PA patterns among primary school children across four seasons, reflecting day-to-day variation within each season. Second, we investigate whether the influence of weather elements differs by day of the week (weekdays vs weekends), gender, age, and body mass index. Method PA data were collected by ActiGraph accelerometers for 1 wk in each of four school terms that reflect each season in southeast Australia. PA data from 307 children (age range 8.7–12.8 yr) were matched to daily meteorological variables obtained from the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology (maximum temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, day length, and rainfall). Daily PA patterns and their association with weather elements were analyzed using multilevel linear mixed models. Results Temperature was the strongest predictor of moderate and vigorous PA, followed by solar radiation and humidity. The relation with temperature was curvilinear, showing optimum PA levels at temperatures between 20°C and 22°C. Associations between weather elements on PA did not differ by gender, child's age, or body mass index. Conclusions This novel study focused on the influence of weather elements on intraindividual PA patterns in children. As weather influences cannot be controlled, knowledge of its effect on individual PA patterns may help in the design of future studies, interpretation of their results, and translation into PA promotion....

In the period around adiposity rebound (i.e., 4–9 yr old). Methods PA was assessed in 470 children (231 boys, 239 girls) using accelerometers at the ages of 5 and 7 yr, and height and weight were measured at 5, 7, and 9 yr. BMI z-scores were calculated to standardize for age and sex. Leaner and heavier children were classified according to the 25th and 75th percentile of our study sample. To examine longitudinal relationships between PA and BMI z-scores, generalized estimating equation analyses were performed and stratified for sex and baseline weight status (leaner, normal weight, and heavier children). Results In heavier children, an increment of 6.5 min of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was related to a subsequent decrease of 0.03 BMI z-scores both in boys (95% confidence interval = −0.07 to −0.001) and girls (95% confidence interval = −0.05 to −0.002). Light PA was also associated with a decrease of BMI in heavier boys but not girls. In normal weight children, MVPA was associated with decrease of BMI in boys but not girls. Conclusion Increments of MVPA were associated with decreases in BMI z-score in heavier children, both boys and girls. Promoting MVPA should remain a major prevention vehicle for improving body composition in 4- to 9-yr-old children....

Introduction: The objective of this study was to assess relationships between children’s physical environment and afterschool leisure time physical activity (PA) and active transport. Methods: Children aged 10–12 years participated in a 7-day accelerometer and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) protocol. Afterschool leisure time PA and active transport were identified based on location- and speed-algorithms based on accelerometer, GPS and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) data. We operationalized children’s exposure to the environment by combining home, school and the daily transport environment in individualized daily activity-spaces. Results: In total, 255 children from 20 Dutch primary schools from suburban areas provided valid data. This study showed that greenspaces and smaller distances from the children’s home to school were associated with afterschool leisure time PA and walking. Greater distances between home and school, as well as pedestrian infrastructure were associated with increased cycling. Conclusion: We demonstrated associations between environments and afterschool PA within several behavioral contexts. Future studies are encouraged to target specific behavioral domains and to develop natural experiments based on interactions between several types of the environment, child characteristics and potential socio-cognitive processes.

There is a strong need for evidence based, effective continuous professional development (CPD) for physical education teachers. This need includes CPD aimed at impacting student motivation. Existin...