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This study aimed to capture the multidimensionality of adolescents' motivation in the physical education (PE) setting, within self-determination theory, by employing self-organizing maps (SOM) analysis. Particularly, it examined the topological relationships among students' basic psychological needs satisfaction, their perception of more or less self-determined motivation and the affective and behavioural consequences in PE lessons across several sociodemographic variables. A nationally representative sample of 3029 Spanish students (51% girls), aged 12 to 18 years, was surveyed. SOM mapped well-defined students' profiles that embraced interrelatedly a considerable number of students' motivational characteristics. Four target profiles, out of 10, were explored. The first two profiles, highly motivated to be active girls and boys, mainly experienced senses of self-determination, but also controlled reasons for participating in PE lessons, high perceived competence, relatedness and autonomy fulfilment, perceived exerted effort and satisfaction. However, the reluctance to be physically active presented two gendered motivational profiles. Barely motivated to be active girls showed the lowest levels of self-determined motivation, including introjected regulation, low perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, and dissatisfaction in PE. Vaguely motivated to be active boys revealed that despite their perceptions of competence the neglect of the other two psychological needs was more likely to determine a controlled motivation and, consequently, maladaptive outcomes. SOM proved to be a more robust and accurate clustering technique than the k-means algorithm and helped to portray and visualize the complexity behind the decision to become an active person considering the motivational processes in PE. Implications are provided for practitioners.

Objective: To determine which type of feedback (visual, verbal, or both combined) facilitates to a greater extent the learning of a specific skill (passing in volleyball). Methods: Three groups of students between 14 and 15 years of age belonging to the third year of Compulsory Secondary Education in a Spanish public high school (n = 58) were randomly assigned a type of feedback implemented in the part of the syllabus dedicated to volleyball. The students' knowledge, motor performance, accuracy, and self-perception about the action were evaluated before and after the intervention and enjoyment afterwards. Results: All the groups obtained improvements in all the variables studied (p < 0.05); the verbal and visual feedback group was the one that obtained greater improvements, showing also a greater enjoyment than the visual feedback group. Conclusions: It has been found that the use of the combination of verbal and visual feedback is most recommended for learning a specific skill, such as passing in volleyball.

This study analyzed the development of postural control and the cost of the cognitive task on postural control in the bipedal standing position during childhood. Sixty-six normally developed children divided into four groups by age participated in this study. Single (ST) and dual-tasks (DT) were conducted in the bipedal standing position with eyes open. DT included carrying out a cognitive task consisting of a modified Stroop Test. A Wii Balance Board was used to measure postural sway data. The results showed effects of age and condition on postural control (p < 0.01). The interaction of age x condition showed that in DT, 4-year-old children presented higher ellipse area than 5, 6, 7-year-olds (p < 0.01). Moreover, an effect of age on cognitive performance was found (p < 0.001). In conclusion, four-year old children present lower postural control than 5, 6, 7-year-olds. The youngest children gave fewer correct answers than the 6 and 7-year-olds.

Longitudinal designs enhance our understanding of children's development and its influence on movement behaviors and health. This three‐year follow‐up study aimed to develop profiles according to perceived and actual motor competence (MC) (locomotion, object control, and overall) and physical fitness in boys and girls longitudinally including children's temporal migrations among clusters in terms of profiling trends. A secondary aim was to compare physical activity participation and weight status at each time point according to these profiles. One hundred and four typically developing Spanish children (45.8% girls) between 4 and 9 years old at baseline participated in this study. Data were collected at three time points one year apart, between January 2016 and May 2018. A self‐organizing map and K‐means cluster analysis were used to classify and visualize the values and temporal trajectories longitudinally. The study of the profiles in three consecutive years revealed five profiles, three for boys [ie, profile 1 (aligned—high), profile 2 (aligned‐partially—low perception‐medium actual MC and fitness), and profile 3 (non‐aligned—medium perception‐low actual MC and fitness)]; and two for girls [ie, profile 4 (aligned—high) and profile 5 (aligned—low)]. For highly perceived and capable children, boys (profile 1) and girls (profile 4), there was a tendency for higher physical activity participation and lower body mass index and waist circumference over time compared to their counterparts who had medium and/or low levels in perception and actual MC and fitness (P <.05). As children age, those with low values in perceived and actual MC and fitness in object control skills will present a higher probability of maintaining unhealthy lifestyles. So, prior intervention, children's profiles identification should be analyzed according to the type of MC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience, or the capacity to be able to develop oneself successfully despite adverse circumstances, has become a concept of interest in recent years. There is a clear relationship between resilience, psychological well-being, and coping strategies. This study looked at 890 subjects with a mean age of 46.77 (SD = 20.86) years, ranging from 18 and 95 years old. The participants were 40.6% men and 59.4% women. Using this sample, three clusters were developed by MATLAB R2010a and the Self-Organizing Maps toolbox. Two of these had high resilience, and the other one had low resilience; the psychological well-being variables and coping strategies were taken into account. Thereafter, multivariate analysis of variance showed a group effect for the resilience, psychological well-being, and coping strategies variables. Establishing resilient profiles based on variables such as psychological well-being and coping strategies reveals the best features for coping with stressful situations; this could help to promote nonpharmacological therapies for increasing resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Literature focusing on youth has reported limited evidence and non-conclusive associations between neighborhood walkability measures and active commuting to and from school (ACS). Moreover, there is a lack of studies evaluating both macro- and micro-scale environmental factors of the neighborhood when ACS is analyzed. Likewise, most studies on built environment attributes and ACS focus on urban areas, whereas there is a lack of studies analyzing rural residential locations. Moreover, the relationship between built environment attributes and ACS may differ in children and adolescents. Hence, this study aimed to develop walkability indexes in relation to ACS for urban and rural children and adolescents, including both macro- and micro-scale school-neighborhood factors., Methods: A cross-sectional study of 4593 participants from Spain with a mean age of 12.2 (SD 3.6) years was carried out. Macro-scale environmental factors were evaluated using geographic information system data, and micro-scale factors were measured using observational procedures. Socio-demographic characteristics and ACS were assessed with a questionnaire. Several linear regression models were conducted, including all the possible combinations of six or less built environment factors in order to find the best walkability index., Results: Analyses showed that intersection density, number of four-way intersections, and residential density were positively related to ACS in urban participants, but negatively in rural participants. In rural children, positive streetscape characteristics, number of regulated crossings, traffic calming features, traffic lanes, and parking street buffers were also negatively related to ACS. In urban participants, other different factors were positively related to ACS: number of regulated crossings, positive streetscape characteristics, or crossing quality. Land use mix acted as a positive predictor only in urban adolescents. Distance to the school was a negative predictor on all the walkability indexes. However, aesthetic and social characteristics were not included in any of the indexes., Conclusions: Interventions focusing on improving built environments to increase ACS behavior need to have a better understanding of the walkability components that are specifically relevant to urban or rural samples.

Objective: Our main goal was to measure physical activity (PA) in people with paraplegia. Secondarily, we aimed to establish the relationship between being engaged in physical exercise (PE) and reaching the recommended moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level. We further analyzed the effect of being engaged in PE on the PA levels., Design: Descriptive cross-sectional., Setting: Spanish associations for individuals with spinal cord injury., Participants: Ninety-six manual wheelchair users with chronic paraplegia., Interventions: Participants wore a wrist accelerometer for one week., Outcome Measures: Levels of PA and sedentary behavior. In addition, participants were classified into two groups, exercisers (EG) and non-exercisers (NEG) to analyze the effect of PE enrollment on the variables., Results: For all participants, a mean (SD) of 5,341.70 (966.4) minutes per week were spent engaged in sedentary behaviors, 2,188.99 (723.9) minutes were spent engaged in light activity, and 206.24 (180.0) minutes were spent engaged in MVPA. There was a significant relationship between PE and reaching the minimum levels of MVPA recommended [ x 2 (1) = 25.03, P  < 0.01]. NEG showed a greater number of minutes per week for sedentary behavior [ t (94) = 2.50, P  < 0.05, r  = 0.25]. The EG spent more than twice as much time doing MVPA than the NEG (263.8 min vs 114.3 min, respectively)., Conclusions: MVPA levels are low in manual wheelchair users who are not regular exercisers, but most of those who self-reported being regular exercisers reach the minimum levels recommended for health benefits. Sedentary behavior is a concern in this population.

This study aims to develop profiles in children according to physical fitness, actual and perceived motor competence, and to examine the level of engagement in physical activity and weight status according to these profiles. In the study, 156 typically developing Spanish children (47.4% girls) of primary school age (5-11 years-old) participated voluntarily. Children's perceived and actual motor competence, physical fitness, physical activity participation and weight status were assessed. A Self-Organising Map and K-means cluster analysis were used to classify and visualise the values. Four profiles were found: profile 2 was aligned - high capacity, high perception, profile 1 was partially aligned - medium capacity and perception, profile 3 and 4 were both non-aligned - low capacity, medium perception and medium capacity, low perception; respectively. Children in profile 2 were more active than children in profile 3 and 4 (P < .05). In profile 2 there was a lower frequency of overweight/obese children than normal-weight children. On the contrary, in profiles 1, 3 and 4 a similar distribution of normal-weight and overweight/obese children was found. High capable children with high perception exhibited higher physical activity participation and were more likely to be of normal-weight compared to those with low capacity and/or perception.