A snapshot of the health of young people in Europe

A report prepared for the European Comission Conference on Youth Health, Brussels Belgium, 9-10 July 200

El papel de la actividad física, el sedentarismo y la condición física en la salud mental y la sustancia blanca en niños y adolescentes

Childhood and adolescence are periods of dynamic behavioral, cognitive and emotional development that can increase vulnerability to mental disorders. Obesity and related issues represent important public health concerns in terms of prevalence, incidence and economic burden. In addition, nearly 75% of young people have insufficient levels of physical activity in developed countries. In tandem with this fact, most of the young people are “digital natives”, which means that they have grown up surrounded by digital information and entertainment on screens. All these facts together prove that a major change in the lifestyle of young people is taking place in the last decades, which in turn might have an effect on their mental and brain health. In this context, white matter, which is important for efficient transmission of information between brain areas, has been considered one of the brain features susceptible of being modified by physical activity and other related factors (i.e., sedentary behavior and physical fitness) in young people, yet the body of evidence is still in its infancy, and further studies are needed to shed light on the many questions that remain unanswered. Therefore, the overall aim of the present International Doctoral Thesis is to study the role of physical activity, sedentary behavior and physical fitness in the mental health (part I), and white matter (part II) in young people.Tesis Univ. Granada

The role of physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise on the autonomic and arterial systems of healthy adolescents

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide and the atherosclerotic process that precedes CVD starts during childhood. Physical activity (PA), cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and exercise are well known as preventive strategies for CVD. One possible mechanism for such prevention is the role of PA, CRF and exercise on the arterial and autonomic systems. The aim of this thesis was to investigate using observational and experimental studies the role of PA, CRF and exercise on the autonomic and arterial systems of healthy adolescents. Chapter 4 systematically reviewed observational cross-sectional studies and provided level one evidence for a significant and positive association between resting parasympathetic function and moderate-to-vigorous PA in youth. Chapter 4 also indicated that gaps exist in the literature such as the associations between PA intensities, CRF and heart rate variability (HRV). These findings were furthered in Chapter 5 which showed that vigorous PA (VPA) and moderate PA (MPA) were positively related with HRV at rest and cardiac autonomic recovery following exercise in adolescents. In Chapter 6 a high-fat meal was used aiming to increase CVD risk in the postprandial state, and it was demonstrated that PA levels and CRF are not significantly associated with postprandial HRV and arterial stiffness in adolescents. Aiming to investigate possible associations between the vascular and autonomic system, measures of baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) were introduced. Chapter 7 showed that BRS and its autonomic and vascular components present a between-day coefficient of variation lower than 20% whilst within day coefficient of variations were lower than 34% in adolescents. In Chapter 8 acutely following high- and moderate-intensity interval exercise a decrease in blood pressure was observed concomitantly with decreases in BRS. This was mainly mediated by decreases in the autonomic modulation, and the duration of the decreases in blood pressure was higher following high-intensity interval exercise. Chapter 9 extended these findings by demonstrating that the changes in BRS following the ingestion of glucose was not altered by the high or moderate-intensity exercise performed before glucose ingestion. Chapter 10 showed that following four weeks of high-intensity exercise interval training no improvements were observed in BRS and its autonomic and vascular components at rest or acutely following exercise. Collectively, the present thesis contributes significantly to the literature by providing novel evidence in healthy adolescents on the role of PA intensities, CRF and exercise on the arterial and autonomic systems at rest, acutely following exercise and in the postprandial state. The results gathered in this thesis indicate potential of the autonomic and vascular function as targets of CVD risk reduction in youth.Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de nível superior - CAPES. Brazi

Healthy snacks consumption and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The role of anticipated regret

Two empirical studies explored the role of anticipated regret (AR) within the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework (Ajzen, 1991), applied to the case of healthy snacks consumption. AR captures affective reactions and it can be defined as an unpleasant emotion experienced when people realize or imagine that the present situation would be better if they had made a different decision. In this research AR refers to the expected negative feelings for not having consumed healthy snacks (i.e., inaction regret). The aims were: a) to test whether AR improves the TPB predictive power; b) to analyze whether it acts as moderator within the TPB model relationships. Two longitudinal studies were conducted. Target behaviors were: consumption of fruit and vegetables as snacks (Study 1); consumption of fruit as snacks (Study 2). At time 1, the questionnaire included measures of intention and its antecedents, according to the TPB. Both the affective and evaluative components of attitude were assessed. At time 2, self-reported consumption behaviors were surveyed. Two convenience samples of Italian adults were recruited. In hierarchical regressions, the TPB variables were added at the first step; AR was added at the second step, and the interactions at the last step. Results showed that AR significantly improved the TPB ability to predict both intentions and behaviours, also after controlling for intention. In both studies AR moderated the effect of affective attitude on intention: affective attitude was significant only for people low in AR

Uma insegurança insaciável: a significância da qualidade da vinculação para a obesidade

Dissertação de Mestrado realizada sob a orientação do Professor Doutor António José dos Santos, apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica.A obesidade é atualmente considerada uma epidemia global, difícil de tratar e de prevenir, e a sua prevalência na infância consiste num dos mais sérios desafios da saúde pública do século XXI. A investigação tem sugerido que uma maior compreensão dos aspetos psicológicos da obesidade poderá contribuir para a prevenção e intervenção. Neste sentido, alguns estudos apontam para uma associação entre a qualidade da vinculação e a obesidade na infância, sendo que esta associação se estende até à adolescência. O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a significância da qualidade da vinculação para a obesidade em pré-adolescentes entre os 10 e os 14 anos. Participaram no estudo 46 pré-adolescentes da Consulta de Obesidade Pediátrica do Hospital de Santa Maria. A qualidade da vinculação foi avaliada através da adaptação portuguesa da Security Scale (Kerns, Mathews, Koehn, Williams, & Siener-Ciesla, 2015). Para a avaliação da obesidade foram recolhidos o índice de massa corporal (IMC), a percentagem de massa gorda (%MG) e de massa muscular (%MM) e o perímetro da cintura (PC). Os resultados obtidos sustentam, em parte, a investigação realizada com crianças e adolescentes, demonstrando que a relação entre a qualidade da vinculação (mais especificamente as funções de porto seguro e de base segura) e a obesidade não é significativa. Contudo, contrariamente a dados anteriores, este estudo revela uma tendência positiva na relação entre a qualidade da vinculação e obesidade.Obesity is now considered a global epidemic, difficult to treat and prevent, and its prevalence in childhood is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Research has suggested that a greater understanding of the psychological aspects of obesity may contribute to prevention and intervention. In this sense, some studies reported an association between attachment quality and childhood obesity. This association extends into adolescence. The present study aimed to evaluate the significance of the attachment quality for obesity in pre-adolescents between 10 and 14 years. The attachment quality was assessed through the Portuguese adaptation of the Security Scale (Kerns, Mathews, Koehn, Williams, & Siener-Ciesla, 2015) administered to a sample of 46 pre-adolescents from the Pediatric Obesity Appointment of the Hospital de Santa Maria. The body mass index (BMI), the fat mass percentage (%FM), the muscle mass percentage (%MM) and waist circumference (WC) were collected to assess obesity. Results support partially the research conducted with children and adolescents by showing that the relationship between the attachment quality (more specifically the safe haven and secure base functions) and obesity lacks statistical significance. However, in contrast to previous data, this study reveals a positive tendency in the relationship between attachment quality and obesity

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

The Development of Restricting Anorexia Nervosa: Does Personality Predict Individuals' Responses to Short-Term Fasting?

Literature Review: Abstract Aims. There is concern that childhood weight-reduction programs may lead to eating disorder (ED) pathology. The aim was to provide a recent review of the impact of weight-reduction interventions on ED psychopathology or risks. Method. Reference lists and five electronic databases were searched to identify articles on overweight interventions for children aged five to 18, from 2008 to present. Papers were required to report on ED psychopathology. Results. The search yielded 267 articles on obesity interventions, of which 54 reported on psychosocial variables. Twenty-five articles, covering 24 studies, reported specifically on ED pathology or risks, and met inclusion criteria. Conclusions. Higher quality studies indicated that interventions had a beneficial or neutral influence on ED pathology. The ED pathology most likely to be adversely affected included weight concern, body dissatisfaction, and weight-related teasing. Studies used varying methodologies and assessment tools, and often did not report effect sizes, limiting the conclusions that could be drawn. Empirical Paper: Aims. The study aimed to investigate affective responses to fasting, in particular whether personality traits of high persistence and constraint, and low novelty-seeking, which have been linked to restricting anorexia nervosa (ANR), affect these experiences. Method. A non-clinical sample of 52 women with a mean age of 25 completed personality scales at baseline. A repeated-measures design was used, whereby participants provided diary measures of psychological variables throughout both 18-hour fasting and non-fasting periods. Results. Fasting led to increased irritability, and also to positive affective experiences of increased sense of achievement, reward, pride, and control. Self-reported persistence, constraint, and novelty-seeking did not affect experiences of fasting, and personality variables were not significant predictors of fasting responses. Conclusion. Even short-term fasting in healthy controls can lead to positive psychological experiences. This lends support to cognitive-behavioural and cognitive-interpersonal models of ANR, which suggest that dietary restriction is maintained through positive reinforcement. Levels of persistence, constraint, and novelty-seeking did not affect responses to fasting, suggesting that personality variables do not affect eating disorder pathology via responses to fasting