Long-term effects of aerobic exercise on psychological outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Although the literature on increased physical fitness and psychological outcomes has grown large, a number of methodological limitations remain unaddressed. The present study was designed to address a number of these limitations while examining the short- and long-term psychological effects following completion of a 12-week aerobic fitness program using bicycle ergometry (and confirmed increases in fitness). METHOD: Following completion of a 12-week aerobic fitness program (and through 12 months of follow-up), 82 adult participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Profile of Mood States, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Physiological measures used to assess changes in aerobic fitness were maximal work load, submaximal heart rate at a standard work load, predicted maximum oxygen uptake, and resting heart rate. RESULTS: Exercise participants experienced a positive fitness change and psychological improvement over the initial 12-week program compared to a control group. At 1 year follow-up, physiological and psychological benefits remained significantly improved from baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results indicate that exercise-induced increases in aerobic fitness have beneficial short-term and long-term effects on psychological outcomes. We postulate that participants in the exercise group did not increase the amount of weekly exercise they performed over the 12-month follow-up period and thus the maintenance of the psychological improvements occurred concurrent with equal or lesser amounts of exercise.

Determinants of exercise among children. II. A longitudinal analysis.

BACKGROUND: Research has demonstrated that physical activity serves an important preventive function against the development of cardiovascular disease. The recognition that U.S. children are often sedentary, coupled with the observation that physical activity habits tend to persist into adulthood, has prompted the investigation of exercise determinants consistent with social learning theory. The purposes of the present study were to identify social learning variables relevant to children's exercise and to explore the longitudinal predictive value of the determinants. METHODS: Data were collected from 111 families (N = 54 girls, N = 57 boys) who were interviewed in both Phase 1 (fifth and sixth grades) and Phase 2 (eight and ninth grades) of this study. Data from mothers (N = 111) were collected during both phases; data from 80 fathers were collected at Phase 2 only. RESULTS: The results of simultaneous stepwise regression analyses indicated that child's enjoyment of physical activity was the only consistent predictor of physical activity during Phase 1. At Phase 2, child's exercise knowledge, mother's physical activity, and child's and mother's friend modeling/support emerged as predictors for girls. For boys, child's self-efficacy for physical activity, exercise knowledge, parental modeling, and interest in sports media were important. Longitudinally, mother's self-efficacy, barriers to exercise, enjoyment of physical activity, and child's self-efficacy for physical activity were important for girls. Only child's exercise knowledge predicted boys' physical activity. The addition of information from fathers nearly doubled the explanatory power of the predictors for both genders. CONCLUSIONS: Socialization in the family unit exerts a tremendous influence on health-related behaviors such as exercise. The relative importance of determinants seems to differ for girls and boys and the pattern of these determinants appears to change over time.

Determinants of exercise in children.

BACKGROUND: The recognition that children are surprisingly inactive and that lifetime health beliefs and behavior patterns are formed in childhood has emphasized the need to examine the acquisition of exercise behavior in children. Although research has shown social learning theory variables to be relevant to the study of exercise determinants in an adult population, there has been little study done with child populations. The purpose of the present study was to explore the factors that may influence a child's level of physical activity. METHODS: Two hundred forty-two 5th- and 6th-grade children and their mothers were interviewed. It was hypothesized that several social learning variables would exert a particularly strong influence on level of physical activity of children. RESULTS: Regression analysis results indicated that salient predictor variables for boys included enjoyment of physical activity, friend and family support for physical activity, mother's perceived barriers to exercise, and mother's perceived family support for exercise. For girls, the salient predictor variables included enjoyment of physical activity, number of exercise-related items at home, mother's perceived family support for physical activity, mother's perceived barriers to exercise, and direct parental modeling of physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that social learning variables may be important correlates of physical activity in children.

An evaluation of a tobacco use education-prevention program: a pilot study.

This study was designed to implement a psychosocial approach to primary prevention of cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among seventh-grade students. The prevention program was presented by peer leaders who were older high school students. Program intervention addressed parental, peer, and media influences on tobacco use, and taught refusal skills for resisting social pressures to smoke or chew tobacco. Program effectiveness was examined in terms of three variables: knowledge (basic knowledge about tobacco facts), refusal skills (degree of self-reported assertiveness in refusing to use tobacco), and attitude (positive and negative attitudes toward tobacco). These variables were assessed at pre- and posttests, and 1-month follow-up to program termination. It was found that students who received the intervention reported increased knowledge and improved resistance skills regarding the use of tobacco, as compared to a control group. Attitudes toward tobacco were initially negative and did not change over the course of the intervention in either group. In addition, 1-year follow-up was conducted on the intervention group, indicating that treatment gains were maintained.

Underestimates of student substance use by school personnel: a cause for concern?

The present study was designed to compare school personnel's (i.e., principals, counselors, teachers) estimates of student substance use with student self-reported data. Comparisons were made in 78 schools between 5431 student self-reports of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use and 170 school personnel's estimates of student substance use. The results indicated that a significant number of school personnel were unable to estimate student substance use. Personnel who did provide estimates typically underestimated the degree of substance use, in comparison to student self-reported substance use. School personnel did not significantly overestimate use in comparison to student self-reported substance use for any substance in any grade or geographic area. It is suggested that school personnel may resist the adoption of prevention programs because of a perceived lack of need due to underestimation of the substance use problem.

The effects of smoking cessation on food craving.

Weight gain is considered a frequent consequence of smoking cessation. Several psychological mechanisms may play an important role in weight gain following smoking cessation. The present investigation examined changes in food craving associated with smoking cessation using psychophysiologic (i.e., salivation), self-report, and behavioral (i.e., ad lib consumption) measures of reactivity to food cues in a prospective design. Although quitters (n = 16) evidenced weight gain (approximately 5 lbs.) at 1 week and 5 weeks post quit date and while control groups of smokers (n = 11) and nonsmokers (n = 16) did not, no support was found for increased craving assessed via self-report or salivation. The quitters did show evidence of increased craving as measured by ad lib consumption, while smokers and nonsmokers did not. However, the failure to find a significant Group by Session interaction limits our ability to make a strong statement concerning between-group differences on ad lib consumption.

Patterns of cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among children and adolescents.

Although cigarette and smokeless tobacco use are recognized as major problems among school-age youth, few nationwide or statewide data exist on the prevalence and patterns of use. To determine the patterns of tobacco use among children and adolescents in Missouri, self-report information was obtained from a representative sample of 5,431 students in grades 5, 8, and 12. Both cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use were more common among males than females for each grade level except the 12th, where 30% of females and 28% of males had smoked during the previous week. Smoking prevalence was considerably lower among blacks than whites. Smokeless tobacco use was rare among both blacks and females. Smokeless tobacco use was more common than cigarette smoking in rural areas, where 17% of 8th-grade males and 31% of 12th-grade males had used smokeless tobacco during the previous week. The mean age at first use of cigarettes was slightly lower in the rural than the urban area, whereas the mean age of initial smokeless tobacco use was more than a year earlier in the rural area. Data regarding the perceived difficulty of quitting smoking and quit rates suggested that adolescent females have more difficulty quitting smoking than males. Male smokeless tobacco users appeared to be more addicted than male cigarette smokers. Smokeless tobacco brand preference indicated that users may switch to progressively stronger types of smokeless tobacco as they get older and a nicotine tolerance is developed. The current study emphasizes the urgent need for carefully targeted tobacco prevention and cessation efforts among school-age youth.

A study of the accuracy of cancer risk factor information reported to a central registry compared with that obtained by interview.

Sources of readily available data for cancer surveillance are frequently sought. To assess the validity of information on cancer risk factors that is routinely collected in conjunction with cancer incidence reporting, the authors completed interviews for 441 patients identified through the Missouri Cancer Registry from June 1986 to May 1987. Interviews elicited information on employment history, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Data collected from interviews were compared with those previously reported to the Registry by participating hospitals. Exact agreements of three-digit US Census codes were 70% for occupation and 72% for industry. Concordance for never- versus ever-smoking status was 83%, and a high correlation (r = 0.93) was observed for level of smoking. Agreement on alcohol consumption was lower (65%), largely because of the presence of false negatives. Misclassification occurred in a random manner for occupational variables; however, differential misclassification was present for smoking and alcohol histories. Despite the limitations of registry-collected data, these findings suggest that cancer registries that obtain information on cancer risk factors may be suitable for exploratory studies, especially those involving occupational cancer surveillance.

Behavioral assessment of peer interaction and social functioning in institutional and structured settings.

Observed 18 children in a short-term psychiatric facility over a 5-month period using a peer interaction coding system. The direct behavioral observation method was adapted and revised from existing scales to increase reliability and efficiency for use by institutional staff. Response codes included Adaptive Peer Interaction, Maladaptive Peer Interaction, Solitary Independent Play, and Response to Staff. Reliability was assessed on 35% of the total coded intervals, which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 94.3%. In addition, reliability coefficients were calculated for each individual component behavior, an extremely important but often ignored statistic, and all yielded reliabilities greater than 90%. Normative rates for children on the psychiatric unit also are presented, and discussion is provided concerning the application of this coding system in clinics, schools, and institutional settings.