Can organized leisure-time activities buffer the negative outcomes of unstructured activities for adolescents' health?

We aimed to assess the associations of involvement in selected unstructured activities (UA) with health-risk behaviours and academic achievement and the degree to which the participation in organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) changes these associations. Using a sample of 6935 Czech adolescents aged 13 and 15 years, we investigated adolescents' weekly involvement in hanging out, visiting shopping malls for fun and meeting friends after 8 p.m., OLTA and engagement in three health-risk behaviours and academic achievement. Weekly involvement in the selected UA was associated with higher odds for regular smoking, being drunk, having early sexual intercourse and low academic achievement. Concurrent participation in OLTA did not buffer these negative outcomes, except for sexual experience. However, those highly engaged only in UA were more likely to participate in the health-risk behaviours and report worse academic achievement than those participating in any OLTA concurrently. The selected UA are strongly associated with an increased occurrence of adolescents' health-risk behaviours and low academic achievement. Concurrent participation in OLTA does not buffer these negative outcomes significantly, but adolescents engaged only in UA consistently report the least favourable outcomes

When children play, they feel better:organized activity participation and health in adolescents

Background: Participation in organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) has been linked to healthy youth development. This study aimed to assess whether participation in OLTA is associated with both physical and mental health in adolescents, and whether this association differs by pattern of activity participation, age and gender. Methods: The present study was based on data from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in the Czech Republic. This data concerned 10,503 adolescents (49.2 % boys) aged 11, 13 and 15. A cluster analysis was carried out to obtain patterns of activity participation and yielded five groups (all-rounders, artists, individual sports, team sports and inactive). The association between participation in types of OLTA and physical and mental health was analysed using logistic regression models adjusted for age and gender. We also assessed interactions between types of OLTA and gender and age. Results: Participation in OLTA was associated with better self-rated health and higher life satisfaction regardless of gender or age. Participation in team or individual sports was associated with better general health and less frequent health complaints in boys, while participation in art activities was associated with lower occurrence of health complaints in girls and 11-year-olds. Conclusion: Participation in OLTA is associated with better physical and mental health in adolescents. The association varies by pattern of activity participation and is partly gender-and age-specific

Test-Retest Reliability of a Questionnaire on Motives for Physical Activity among Adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of the motives for undertaking physical activity (PA) items from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study questionnaire among Slovak and Czech adolescents and to determine whether this reliability differs by gender, age group and country. We obtained data from 580 students aged 11 and 15 years old (51.2% boys) who participated in a test and retest study with a four-week interval in 2013 via the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children cross-sectional study in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We estimated the test-retest reliability of all 13 dichotomized motives by using Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and Cohen's Kappa statistics, for continuous and dichotomized motives, respectively. Test-retest reliability showed moderate agreement for nine motives (ICC from 0.41 to 0.60) and fair agreement for four motives (ICC from 0.33 to 0.40). Kappa statistics were similarly moderate to large (0.33 to 0.61), except for three motives with small or trivial correlations. The motives "To improve my health" and "To enjoy the feeling of using my body" had consistently low Kappas and correlations. Overall, the results of this study suggest that most questions on motives for PA on the HBSC questionnaire have acceptable test-retest characteristics for use among adolescents

Participation in organized leisure-time activities and risk behaviors in Czech adolescents

The study aimed to assess the associations between participation in organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) and risk behaviors, and whether the associations differed by gender, age, and pattern of OLTA involvement. Data from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study on 10,279 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old Czech adolescents (49.2% boys) were used. We assessed the associations between OLTA participation and risk behaviors, and modification by age and gender. OLTA participants were less likely to smoke, get drunk repeatedly, or skip school and, in contrast, more likely to get injured and fight repeatedly. The associations with lower occurrence of risk behaviors were the strongest for artists, while none was significant for adolescents participating only in team sports. Girls participating in OLTA had lower odds to smoke, get drunk, or skip school than boys, and these boys had higher odds to get injured or fight. OLTA participation is associated with lower occurrence of repeated substance use and truancy and inversely with higher odds for physical fights and injuries. Girls, in general, are at lower risk when participating in OLTA than boys

Is Participation in Organized Leisure-Time Activities Associated with School Performance in Adolescence?

BACKGROUND:Organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) have been identified as a context suitable for improvement of school performance. This study aimed to assess the associations between participation in OLTA and school engagement, school-related stress, academic achievement and whether these associations differ by specific pattern of OLTA participation, gender and age. Furthermore, it assessed whether OLTA participants are more likely to acquire support for schoolwork from outside the family. METHODS:The sample concerned 10,483 adolescents (49.2% boys) aged 11, 13 and 15 from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children data collection in 2014 in the Czech Republic. Logistic regressions adjusted for gender and age were used to analyse the associations between participation in OLTA and four education-related outcomes. RESULTS:Participation in OLTA was associated with higher school engagement, lower levels of school-related stress and better academic achievement regardless of gender and age. The strongest associations were observed for adolescents involved in various types of OLTA concurrently, with odds ratios ranging from 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-1.54) for lower school-related stress to 1.97 (95% CI 1.73-2.25) for above-average academic achievement. OLTA participants were also more likely to have a non-familial person to help them with schoolwork, though this association was weaker in 15-year-olds. CONCLUSION:Youth involvement in OLTA is linked to general better school performance and attachment to school. Adolescents participating in more activities at the same time have the best school performance

Is a Perceived Activity-Friendly Environment Associated with More Physical Activity and Fewer Screen-Based Activities in Adolescents?

Background: The aim of this study is to explore if perception of an activity-friendly environment is associated with more physical activity and fewer screen-based activities among adolescents. Methods: We collected self-reported data in 2014 via the Health Behavior in School-aged Children cross-sectional study from four European countries (n = 13,800, mean age = 14.4, 49.4% boys). We explored the association of perceived environment (e.g., “There are other children nearby home to go out and play with”) with physical activity and screen-based activities using a binary logistic regression model adjusted for age, gender, family affluence and country. Results: An environment perceived as activity-friendly was associated with higher odds that adolescents meet recommendations for physical activity (odds ratio (OR) for one standard deviation (SD) change = 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.18) and lower odds for excessive screen-based activities (OR for 1 SD better = 0.93, 95% CI 0.88–0.98). Conclusions: Investment into an activity-friendly environment may support the promotion of active life styles in adolescence

The validity of parental-reported body height and weight: a comparison with objective measurements of 7-8-year-old Czech children

The values of body weight and height can be recorded in various ways. Self-reports and parental-report methods are amongst the most typical ways to collect data. These methods have advantages, but also limits. Anthropometric measures are recommended to improve measurement precision. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the parental-reported body weight and height of 7-8-year-old Czech children corresponded with the measured body weight and height. Data concerning children’s body weight and body height were collected via parental informed consent and anthropometric measurements. The research sample consisted of 388 children from 7 to 8 years-old (boys, n = 176; girls, n = 162). Only children with parental informed consent were included. Correlations between parental-reported and measured data were analysed with the Pearson correlation coefficient to examine the strength of linear dependence between the two methods. The differences between parental-reported and measured data were tested using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. P-values below α = 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Parents manifested a tendency to underestimate body weight and especially the body height of their children. This trend was seen in boys and girls in both age groups. Out of the 338 children with parent-reported height, parents under-reported their child’s height by 1 cm or more in 37.1% of the children, 39.6% of the parents reported a height within 0.99 cm of the measured height, and 23.3% of parents over-reported their child’s height by 1 cm or more. The same number of children had parent-reported weights, parents under-reported their child’s weight by 1 kg and more in 25.2% of the children, 57.7% of the parents reported a weight within 0.99 kg of the measured weight, and 17.1% of the parents over-reported their child’s weight by 1 kg or more. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the measured and parental-reported height and weight revealed a statistically significant strong positive linear relationship in both genders (rheight = 0.912, rweight = 0.943; all p< 0.001). The differences between the measured and parental-reported height and weight were not significantly different (all p< 0.05). The high agreement and correlation between measured and parental-reported body height and weight suggest that parental-report methods can be an appropriate alternative to objective measurement and can be used as a valid tool to classify body height and weight for large population studies of Czech children in school-based research when anthropometric measures are not available

School physical activity policies and active transport to school among pupils in the Czech Republic

Background: Previous studies indicate that the level of physical activity (PA) significantly affects children's health. Active transport to school is PA on a daily basis that may contribute substantially to the overall volume of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Aim of our study was to explore whether schools' health promotion and PA-related policies are associated with active commuting in 15-years-old girls and boys actively commuting to and from school and whether gender differences on active commuting exist. Methods: Students in 9th grades (N = 1522; mean age 15 years; 47.7% boys) from the Czech Republic were enrolled. The active transport of adolescents was self-reported within the Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey in the year 2010. Data about school polices were obtained from the school-level questionnaire which was responded to by school principals. Associations between active transport and school health or PA policies were calculated by logistic regression. Results: We found that adolescents actively commuted more often (OR/95%-CI: 3.43/L87-6.27 [girls]; 2,87/1.46-5.642 [boys]) in schools which promote students' walking and cycling to or from school. Adolescents from schools that are planning an implementation of health promotion reported even higher levels of use of active transport (OR/95%-CI: 5.32/2.38-11.92 [girls]; 4.54/2.01-10.24 [boys]). The association was stronger in boys compared to girls. Conclusion: School policies and programs promoting active transport to and from schools in the Czech Republic contribute to the use of active transport and should be widely implemented. Gender-sensitive approaches should also be taken into account

Table_1_Perceived stress of adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown: Bayesian multilevel modeling of the Czech HBSC lockdown survey.DOCX

ObjectiveLong-term isolation, including lockdowns and quarantines, may have a distressing effect on anyone experiencing it. Adolescent brain architecture is very sensitive to environmental adversities, and the mental health development of adolescents may be particularly vulnerable during the pandemic era. In order to better understand the triggers for perceived adolescent stress (PSS) during the COVID-19 lockdown, the present study aimed to assess the effects of social well-being and changes in time use during the lockdown, as well as the family COVID experience of adolescents.MethodsThe sample for this study comprised n = 3,440 adolescents (54.2% girls; mean age = 13.5 ± 1.6 years). Bayesian correlations between PSS, health and well-being variables were assessed. PSS was then modeled as an outcome variable in a series of nested Bayesian multilevel regression models.ResultsThe negative impact of the COVID-19 lockdown was more apparent in girls. PSS was moderately correlated with adolescent health and well-being. The strongest predictor of higher level of PSS was frequent feeling of loneliness. On the contrary, lower level of PSS was most associated with having someone to talk to.ConclusionLong-term social isolation of adolescents could be harmful to their mental health. Psychological coping strategies to prevent the consequences of social isolation and development of mental health problems should be promoted on the individual, family, and even community level.</p