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Background: Physical activity (PA) may benefit academic performance, but it is unclear what kind of classroom‐based PA is optimal for learning. Aim: We studied the effects of physically active maths lessons on children's maths performance and maths‐related effects, and whether gender and previous mathematical or motor skills modify these effects. Sample: A total of 22 volunteered teachers and their pupils with signed consent (N = 397, mean age: 9.3 years, 51% females) participated in a 5‐month, teacher‐led, multi‐arm, cluster‐randomized controlled trial. Methods: The intervention included a PAL group (20 min of physically active learning in each 45‐min lesson), a breaks group (two 5‐min PA breaks in each 45‐min lesson) and a control group (traditional teaching). Maths performance was assessed with a tailored curriculum‐based test. Maths‐related enjoyment, self‐perceptions and anxiety were measured with a self‐reported questionnaire. The individual‐level intervention effects were tested via covariate‐adjusted linear mixed‐effect models with school classes serving as random effects. Results: Changes in maths performance or self‐perceptions did not differ between the intervention groups. Maths anxiety in learning situations increased in the PAL group (effect.28, 95% CI =.01–.56); there was no change in the other groups. Subgroup analyses suggested that maths anxiety increased in the PAL group among children in the two lowest tertiles of motor skills. It decreased in the highest tertile. Enjoyment decreased in the breaks group among pupils in the lowest motor skill tertile. Conclusions: Physically active maths lessons did not affect maths performance or self‐perceptions but had divergent effects on maths anxiety and enjoyment, depending on motor skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Providing individual‐ and population‐level data on children's physical fitness (PF) is a crucial public health and education priority. However, few national fitness monitoring or surveillance systems are currently in practice internationally. We aim to summarize the current European PF monitoring and surveillance systems for school‐aged children and to provide experience‐based guidelines on how to design such systems. Methods: The FitBack network consists of experts from diverse backgrounds with the common interest to improve the accessibility of PF monitoring for young people globally. Through FitBack network, we identified and compared the national or regional PF monitoring and surveillance systems currently in operation across Europe. We formulated a 10‐step approach for designing and establishing one's own system, based on analysis of experienced strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to monitoring childhood fitness. Results: We identified a total of eight PF monitoring systems in Finland, France, Galicia of Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, and Slovenia. The FitBack network recommends the following steps for designing and establishing one's own system: (1) set up mission statements and aims, (2) involve stakeholders, (3) utilize scientific background, (4) governance structure, (5) ensure sufficient funding, (6) data management planning, (7) provide meaningful feedback, (8) conduct pilot testing, (9) plan implementation process, and (10) invest in communication with stakeholders. Conclusions: This study provides an updated overview of the best practices for school‐aged children's fitness monitoring and surveillance in Europe. Additionally, it offers a 10‐step approach to assist in the creation of similar systems in Europe or globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined longitudinal associations between parenthood‐related factors and physical activity from young adulthood to midlife over a 19‐year follow‐up period. Participants (n = 761) at the ongoing Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study responded to a self‐report questionnaire in their adulthood (in 1992, 2001, 2007, and 2011). Participants were classified as meeting or not meeting an aerobic physical activity recommendation. Parenthood‐related factors included the age of having their first child and the number and age of the children. Analyses of generalized estimation equations were performed and adjusted for several demographic and health‐related covariates. Both mothers and fathers with children under 6 years were less likely to be involved in physical activity than participants without children. However, meeting the aerobic physical activity recommendations did not differ between parents with a youngest child who was 6 years old or older as compared to the childless participants. The older the youngest child was, the more likely the parents were to be physically active. Participants who became a parent relatively late, at the age of 30 or older, seemed less likely to meet the aerobic physical activity recommendation during follow‐up than those who had their first child at the age of 26–29. The results indicate that parenthood does not seem to have a long‐lasting negative impact on adults' physical activity, and the individuals reached a similar level of physical activity in midlife than they had before parenthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The longitudinal influence of parental leisure‐time physical activity (LTPA) on their offspring's LTPA is poorly understood. This study examined the longitudinal associations between parental LTPA and offspring's LTPA at two‐time intervals. Method: Child (offspring) participants (N = 3596) were enrolled from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in 1980. Their LTPA was self‐rated through nine phases from baseline to 2018 and categorized by year into youth (1980‒1986) and adult (1992‒2018) LTPA. Parental LTPA was assessed with a single self‐reported question at three phases from 1980 to 1986. Latent growth curve modeling stratified by gender was fitted to estimate the potential pathways between parental LTPA and offspring's youth and adult LTPA. Results: Higher initial levels of paternal and maternal LTPA were independently associated with greater initial levels of youth and adult LTPA of offspring in both genders, respectively, except maternal LTPA, which did not associate with male offspring's adult LTPA. The initial levels of paternal LTPA were directly related to changes in male offspring's youth LTPA after adjusting for age, residential place, paternal education and occupation, having siblings, and offspring's body mass index. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that the initial levels of parental LTPA are directly linked to the initial levels of offspring's LTPA during youth and adulthood, while changes in parental LTPA are unrelated to changes in offspring's youth and adult LTPA for either gender over time. These results imply that higher initial levels of LTPA in parents may serve as a predictor of offspring's LTPA across life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether physical activity, fitness, and motor skills have an indirect association with math performance via cognitive outcomes and if so, through which aspects of cognition? Methods: This study comprised 311 6th–9th grade adolescents (12–17 years [M age = 14.0 years], 59% girls) from seven schools throughout Finland in 2015. Math performance was measured via a teacher‐rated math achievement and the Basic Arithmetic test. Cognitive functions were measured by broad cognitive test battery. Physical activity was assessed with a self‐reported questionnaire and a hip‐worn accelerometer. Aerobic fitness was estimated using a maximal 20‐m shuttle run test, muscular fitness with curl‐up and push‐up tests, and motor skills with a 5‐leaps test and a throwing‐catching combination test. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the associations. Results: In both boys and girls, motor skills had a positive indirect association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Among girls, muscular fitness had a positive indirect association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Aerobic fitness was positively associated with math achievement, but the indirect path via cognition was not observed. Self‐reported physical activity had a borderline indirect positive association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Accelerometer‐based physical activity did not correlate with math performance. Conclusion: Motor skills and muscular fitness had indirect positive associations with math performance, mediated by visuospatial working memory. The results give support to the viewpoints that the connections between motor skills, fitness, and physical activity to academic skills are mediated via specific cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline in adolescents' physical fitness (PF) in recent decades has raised concerns about current population's possible future challenges with health and physical functional capacity. This study explored the associations between body composition, physical activity, maturation, and PF development in adolescents. Furthermore, PF development of adolescents with low initial PF was assessed. A 2‐year observational study was conducted between spring 2013 and 2015. Nine comprehensive schools and their 10‐ to 13‐year‐old students were invited to participate in the study (1778), and a total of 971 students (54.6%) agreed. Cardiorespiratory fitness (20‐meter shuttle run), muscular fitness (push‐ups), fundamental movement skills (5‐leaps test), body composition (bioelectrical impedance analysis), moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (accelerometer), and pubertal status (self‐assessment questionnaire) were measured at 1‐year intervals. Latent growth curve modeling (LGM) was used to study PF development over time. Change in fat mass had the strongest and most coherent associations with PF development during adolescence. Fat‐free mass, moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, and pubertal status were associated with PF development, although not systematically. Subgroup analyses showed that PF development in the low fitness group followed a similar pattern as the whole population. However, their PF remained significantly lower throughout the 2‐year period. The findings suggest that fat accumulation is an essential detrimental factor for PF development during adolescence. Actions to prevent excessive fat accumulation might help to prevent future declines in functional capacity. Indications that low fitness levels sustain during adolescence highlight the relevance of detecting these individuals and providing interventions already before adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of physical activity and changes in physical activity levels during childhood in long‐term labor market outcomes. To address this important but under‐researched theme, the study utilized data drawn from longitudinal research, the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS), and from registries compiled by Statistics Finland. The study consisted of children aged 9 (n = 1565) and 15 (n = 2445) at the time their physical activity was measured. Labor market outcomes, including employment status, average employment months, and average unemployment months, were calculated from 1997 to 2010, when the participants were aged 20 to 48 years. Regression models were used to assess the relationship between physical activity and labor market outcomes. The results show that the consequences of childhood physical activity may be far‐reaching, as higher childhood physical activity was positively related to the probability of being employed and employment months and was negatively related to unemployment months. On average, a one‐unit increase in physical activity index was related to a 1% higher probability of being employed, 0.10 more months of yearly employment, and 0.05 fewer months of yearly unemployment. The results also imply that persistently active individuals had the highest level of employment and the lowest level of unemployment compared with other activity groups. In conclusion, investments in childhood physical activity may not only promote health and well‐being but may also correlate with better labor market outcomes later in life, providing both personal and societal benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical inactivity is a major health risk worldwide. Observational studies suggest that higher education is positively related to physical activity, but it is not clear whether this relationship constitutes a causal effect. Using participants (N = 1651) drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to nationwide administrative data from Statistics Finland, this study examined whether educational attainment, measured by years of education, is related to adulthood physical activity in terms of overall physical activity, weekly hours of intensive activity, total steps per day, and aerobic steps per day. We employed ordinary least squares (OLS) models and extended the analysis using an instrumental variables approach (Mendelian randomization, MR) with a genetic risk score as an instrument for years of education. Based on the MR results, it was found that years of education is positively related to physical activity. On average, one additional year of education leads to a 0.62‐unit higher overall physical activity (P <.01), 0.26 more hours of weekly intensive activity (P <.05), 560 more steps per day (P <.10), and 390 more aerobic steps per day (P <.09). The findings indicate that education may be a factor leading to higher leisure‐time physical activity and thus promoting global health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined how motor skills are associated with physical activity (PA), sedentary time, body fat, and day care attendance among young children. Also, the motor skills of healthy weight children were compared to those who were overweight or obese. Methods: The study population consisted of five to six years old children (n = 111; 45 boys) who participated in the longitudinal STEPS Study carried out in Southwest Finland in 2013‐2014. Motor skills were measured with the Bruininks‐Oseretsky test, second edition (BOT‐2) including fine manual control, manual coordination, body coordination, and strength and agility. Moderate‐to‐vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) and sedentary time were objectively measured with hip‐worn accelerometers. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on measured weight and height. Body fat percentage (BF%) was measured using segmental multifrequency bio impedance analysis. Day care attendance was measured with parental questionnaires. Linear regression analyses were adjusted by age, sex, and parental education. Results: Day care attendance was positively associated with body coordination and strength and agility. Lower BF% in girls was associated with higher strength and agility scores. There were no associations between manual coordination or fine manual control and the explanatory variables. Objectively measured MVPA and sedentary time showed no associations with motor skills. Overweight children had significantly lower scores in all motor skill composites (P < 0.05) than healthy weight children, except in fine manual control where the association was non‐significant (P = 0.202). Conclusions: Early prevention of overweight and obesity may be of importance and day care attendance may be beneficial for motor skill development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine and quantify the cross-sectional associations of body composition (BC), physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) with physical fitness (PF) in children and adolescents. A sample of 594 Finnish students (56% girls), aged 9-15 (12.4 ± 1.3 years) were selected for a study performed in 2013. The measurements of the Move! monitoring system for physical functional capacity were used to measure cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness and fundamental movement skills. Moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and ST were measured objectively with an accelerometer and BC by a bioelectrical impedance analysis. Fat mass index (FMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI) were calculated to represent heightadjusted BC. Associations were explored with a linear regression model. In general, FMI had statistically significant negative associations, while FFMI and MVPA had positive associations with PF. No statistically significant associations were observed between ST and PF. In general, FMI had the strongest association with PF, although some variation occurred with sex and PF component. However, associations were practically relevant only in 20-m shuttle run, push-up, curl-up and 5-leaps test. For example, approximately 5 kg increase in fat mass in 155 cm tall children was estimated to correspond to 8 laps in 20-m shuttle run. Similar increase in fat-free mass corresponded to +4 and +6 laps, and 10 min increase in daily MVPA +3 and +2 laps in 20-m shuttle run, in boys and girls, respectively. Understanding these associations is necessary when interpreting children's PF and designing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the Finnish Schools on the Move program is to create a more active and pleasant school day through physical activity ( PA). In this quasi-experimental design, we compared changes in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity ( MVPA) and sedentary time ( ST) during the school day and outside school hours for Grades 1-9 over two academic years in four program schools and two reference schools. Altogether 319 girls and boys aged 7-15 participated in the study between 2010 and 2012. MVPA and ST were measured four times over the 1.5-year follow-up period for seven consecutive days, using a hip-worn ActiGraph accelerometer. Linear growth curve modeling was used to examine the effect of the program on MVPA and ST during follow-up. School day MVPA increased ( P = 0.010) and school day ST decreased ( P = 0.008) in program primary schools (Grades 1-6) more compared with the reference schools. The effect sizes (Cohen's d) for the difference in change (from the first to the last measurement) were small ( d = 0.18 and d = −0.27, respectively). No differences in the changes of leisure-time or whole-day MVPA and ST between the program and reference schools were observed during follow-up. In conclusion, the changes in school day MVPA and ST did not translate into positive effects across the whole day. More effective and longer promotion actions are needed for positive changes in PA and ST, especially in lower secondary schools and for all daily segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Musculoskeletal pain in multiple sites is common already in adolescence, and may lead to subsequent musculoskeletal complaints in adulthood. We examined predictive factors for the persistence of multiple musculoskeletal pains in adolescence over a 2-year time span. A postal questionnaire was administered to a subsample of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n =1773) when subjects were aged 16 and 18. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the possible risk factors of new-onset of multiple pains at 18years and 2-year persistence of multiple pains were obtained using multinomial logistic regression. Multiple musculoskeletal pains were common; 43% of boys and 63% of girls at 16, and 61% of boys and 81% of girls at 18 reported pain in more than one site during the last 6months. Moreover, multiple pains had a high persistence rate, as 75% of boys and 88% of girls with multiple pains at 16 reported multiple pains also at 18. In the multivariate analysis, emotional and behavioral problems (internalizing problems, OR 2.3; externalizing problems, OR 2.2), and high sitting time (OR 1.6) among boys, and internalizing problems (OR 3.7), high physical activity level (OR 1.6), short sleeping time (OR 1.7), and smoking (OR 1.9) among girls were predictive factors for the persistence of multiple pains. No statistically significant associations between the baseline variables and new-onset multiple pains were found. Multiple musculoskeletal pains appear to have a high tendency to persist in adolescence; both psychosocial factors and lifestyle factors contribute to this vulnerability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent studies indicate that adolescents often experience musculoskeletal pains in two or more body locations. However, previous studies have mainly focused on localized pains, and the determinants of multiple musculoskeletal pains in adolescents are not well known. The present study was set to evaluate the role of psychosocial, mechanical, and metabolic factors in adolescents’ musculoskeletal pains in multiple locations. The study population consisted of the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort; 15- to 16-year-old adolescents (n =6986), who responded to a mailed questionnaire in 2001. We assessed the associations of emotional and behavioral problems, physical activity, sitting time, sleeping time, overweight and smoking with musculoskeletal pains using multinomial logistic regression. Multiple pains were common, 23% of boys and 40% of girls reported feeling pain in at least three locations over the past 6 months. These pains were not only associated with anxious/depressed symptoms, withdrawn/depressed symptoms, somatic complaints, rule-breaking and aggressive behavior, social problems, thought and attention problems, but also with high physical activity level, long sitting time, short sleeping time and smoking, among both boys and girls. In addition, pain in three to four locations associated with overweight in girls. A high number of psychosocial, mechanical and metabolic factors associated strongly with multiple pains. In conclusion, multiple musculoskeletal pains were strongly associated with psychosocial complaints, but also with mechanical and metabolic factors. Reported musculoskeletal pains in multiple locations in adolescence may have both peripheral (trauma, decreased regenerative ability) and central (sensitivity) causes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]