Eduardo Generelo

A cross-cultural study of adolescents' physical activity levels in France and Spain

Abstract The goals of this study were (1) to describe and compare levels of physical activity (PA), assessed by accelerometry, of adolescents in two close Spanish and French cities according to gender and period of the week and (2) to assess, with reference to country and gender, the extent to which international PA guidelines were fulfilled. The PA of 401 adolescents (53.37% females) from France and Spain (55.72% French) aged 14.45±0.67 years was assessed with GT3X accelerometers for seven consecutive days to evaluate their habitual levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Data collection took place from September to December 2010 in six public and state schools in France and Spain. There were significant differences in MVPA in terms of country, gender and period of the week. Spanish adolescents were more active than French adolescents, boys were more active than girls and MVPA was higher on weekdays than at weekends. French girls showed the lowest level of PA. Only 35.9% of the whole sample met the guidelines for PA in both countries. Governments of relevant countries, especially France, should adopt PA promotion policies targeted at adolescents in order to enhance their compliance with PA guidelines.

Validation of a short physical activity recall questionnaire completed by Spanish adolescents

Abstract Self-report recall questionnaires are commonly used to measure physical activity in children and adolescents. However, they have been shown to have low to moderate validity, mainly due to inaccuracies in recall activity. The purpose of the present study was to determine the reliability and validity of an adapted version of the Assessment of Physical Activity Levels Questionnaire (APALQ) among a sample of Spanish adolescents. Test–retest reliability of the APALQ was assessed using a sample of 150 adolescents (72 males, 78 females), aged 13.6±1.1 years, who answered the APALQ twice within 7 days. Criterion validity was assessed using a sample of 77 adolescents (50 males, 27 females), aged 13.6±1.1 years, by comparing the APALQ against the Computer Science and Application (CSA) monitor. All participants were volunteers recruited from local schools in the Aragon region of Spain. Test–retest reliability for all items was high with intra-class coefficients of 0.77 for boys and 0.74 for girls. The APALQ demonstrated modest criterion validity with Pearson correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.53 between Physical Activity Index (PAI) and CSA minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity, and 0.47 between PAI and CSA steps per day. When the data were analysed by gender, girls had higher correlations than boys (P < 0.01). The Spanish APALQ seems to be a valid and reliable short self-report physical activity questionnaire.

Effect of weather, school transport, and perceived neighborhood characteristics on moderate to vigorous physical activity levels of adolescents from two European cities

The main goal of this study is to analyze the influence of several environmental factors (temperature, precipitation, mode and duration of school transport, perception of physical activity [PA] opportunities, and perceived neighborhood walkability) on adolescent’s daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels of two European mid-sized cities. Data were collected from a sample of 829 adolescents (49.7% Spanish; 55.2% females; 14.33 ± 0.73 years). Daily meteorological data were collected for the valid days for each subject and MVPA levels were assessed with Actigraph GT3X accelerometer during seven consecutive days. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Warmer weather (p < .01), lower levels of precipitation (p < .05), and use of active school transport (p < .05) were significantly associated with higher MVPA levels. Environmental neighborhood perception did not show significant influence. Further efforts should be carried out to increase PA opportunities during colder periods, rainy days, and to promote the use of active transport