Behavioral change of incarcerated boys is influenced by the alliance with the group workers who support them. This alliance is partly determined by the extent to which both the needs of group workers and boys are being fulfilled. The objective of this research was to explore the views of incarcerated boys regarding their relationship with group workers. Q methodology was used, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Respondents ranked statements on behavior and treatment of group workers. Analysis of these individual Q sortings resulted in four preferences: (A) anxious and willing, (B) rebellious and defensive, (C) autonomous and indifferent, (D) dependent and approachable. Results show that needs regarding interaction with group workers are diverse and ask for different approaches. The understanding and awareness of these preferences offers tools for establishing a working alliance and stimulate the boys’ readiness to change.
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Many children aged 9–12 appear to have low levels of fundamental movement skills (FMS). Physical education (PE) is important because PE-teachers can teach children a variety of FMS and can influence PE-motivation. However, declined levels of PE-motivation are reported in the final grades of elementary school. Therefore, more insight in the relations between PE-motivation and FMS is needed.Purposes: In the first phase, instruments to measure the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, classmate relatedness and teacher relatedness) and PE-motivation (autonomous and controlled) in 9–12-year-old children were developed and validated. The purpose of the second phase was to examine the influence of basic psychological needs on PE-motivation, the influence of PE-motivation on locomotor skills, object control skills and balance skills, and the direct influence of basic psychological needs on FMS for boys and girls aged 9–12.Participants and data collection: In the first phase, 172 children (82 boys, 90 girls, M = 10.72 years ± 0.77) filled out questionnaires assessing the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and motivation for PE. Forty-eight children completed the questionnaires again 4 weeks later. In the second phase, a total of 138 children (66 boys, 72 girls, 10.8 years ± .79) (three schools from phase 1 and one new school) participated. Children from the new school also completed the questionnaires and all children conducted the subtest for speed and agility, upper limb coordination and balance of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2.Data analysis: In phase 1, linear weighted Kappa's and the Mokken Scale Program for polychotomous items were used to test reliability and validity. In phase 2, Pearson's correlations and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relations.Findings: Regarding phase 1, all subscales were reliable and the validity was considered moderate to strong except for the autonomy subscale, which was not reliable and valid. With respect to phase 2, all basic psychological needs, except autonomy among girls, had moderate to strong correlations with autonomous PE-motivation. Teacher relatedness was the most important predictor for boys and girls, while the second predictor was classmate relatedness for boys and competence for girls. No positive significant relations between basic psychological needs and FMS and between PE-motivation and FMS were found. In contrary, moderate but negative relations between teacher relatedness and balance skills and between autonomous PE-motivation and balance skills were found for boys.Conclusions: The results confirmed the importance of the basic psychological needs in the prediction of autonomous PE-motivation in 9–12-year-old children. Although all needs should be supported by the PE-teacher, it is important to be aware of the different impact of the needs on autonomous PE-motivation for boys and girls. Despite the missing relations with FMS, PE-teachers seem to be able to autonomously motivate children for PE regardless of their FMS proficiency.
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BackgroundFatness and fitness both influence cardiometabolic risk.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether childhood fatness and increasing fatness from childhood to adolescence are associated with cardiometabolic risk during adolescence and how fitness affects this association.Subjects and methodsOf 565 adolescents (283 boys and 282 girls) from the TRacking Adolescents Individual Life Survey (TRAILS) data on anthropometric parameters (age 11 and 16), metabolic parameters, and fitness (age 16) were available. Body mass index and skinfolds were used as measures for fatness. Increasing fatness was calculated by subtracting Z-scores for fatness at age 11 from Z-score fatness at age 16. Cardiometabolic risk was calculated as the average of the standardized means of mean arterial pressure, fasting serum triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, glucose, and waist circumference. Insulin resistance was calculated by homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Fitness was estimated as maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) during a shuttle run test.ResultsBoys showed a higher clustered cardiometabolic risk when compared to girls (p < 0.01). Childhood fatness (age 11) and increasing fatness were independently associated with cardiometabolic risk during adolescence. In boys, high fitness was related to a reduced effect of increasing fatness on clustered cardiometabolic risk. Childhood fatness, increasing fatness, and fitness were independently associated with HOMA-IR. Moreover, in boys this association was dependent of fatness.ConclusionsChildhood fatness and increasing fatness are associated with increased cardiometabolic risk and HOMA-IR during adolescence, but a good fitness attenuates this association especially in fat boys.
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To examine the association of adolescents' snack and soft drink consumption with friendship group snack and soft drink consumption, availability of snacks and soft drinks at school, and personal characteristics, snack and soft drink consumption was assessed in 749 adolescents (398 girls, 351 boys, age 12.4 - 17.6 years), and their friends, and snack and soft drink availability at schools was measured. In regression analysis, consumption by friends, snack and soft drink availability within school, and personal characteristics (age, gender, education level, body mass index) were examined as determinants of snack and drink consumption. Snack and soft drink consumption was higher in boys, soft drink consumption was higher in lower educated adolescents, and snack consumption was higher in adolescents with a lower body weight. Peer group snack and soft drink consumption were associated with individual intake, particularly when availability in the canteen and vending machines was high. The association between individual and peer snack consumption was strong in boys, adolescents with a lower education level, and adolescents with lower body weights. Our study shows that individual snack and soft drink consumption is associated with specific combinations of consumption by peers, availability at school, and personal characteristics.
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This study aimed to evaluate the associations between playground features andutilization. Researchers assessed the features of 38 playgrounds using the Play Space Audit Tool (PSAT). They monitored how children (0–12 y) used the playground. The associations between the PSAT scores and playground utilization were analysed. Significant associations were found between the PSAT scores ‘overall’, ‘path’, and ‘play structure’ and playground utilization. For boys specifically, their playground usage was positively related to the scores ‘overall’, ‘general amenities’, and ‘play’. For girls, their playground usage was positively related to the scores ‘overall’, ‘path’, and ‘play structure’. In conclusion, the ‘overall’ and ‘play structure’ PSAT scores were robustly associated with higher playground utilization, and the associations for domain scores vary between boys and girls. The outcomes enforce that playgrounds of higher quality attract more children. Keywords: physical activity; outdoor play; children; public space; urban
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Background: Early detection and remediation of language disorders are important in helping children to establish appropriate communicative and social behaviour and acquire additional information about the world through the use of language. In the Netherlands, children with (a suspicion of) language disorders are referred to speech and hearing centres for multidisciplinary assessment. Reliable data are needed on the nature of language disorders, as well as the age and source of referral, and the effects of cultural and socioeconomic profiles of the population served in order to plan speech and language therapy service provision. Aims: To provide a detailed description of caseload characteristics of children referred with a possible language disorder by generating more understanding of factors that might influence early identification. Methods & Procedures: A database of 11,450 children was analysed consisting of data on children, aged 2–7 years (70% boys, 30% girls), visiting Dutch speech and hearing centres. The factors analysed were age of referral, ratio of boys to girls, mono‐ and bilingualism, nature of the language delay, and language profile of the children. Outcomes & Results:Results revealed an age bias in the referral of children with language disorders. On average, boys were referred 5 months earlier than girls, and monolingual children were referred 3 months earlier than bilingual children. In addition, bilingual children seemed to have more complex problems at referral than monolingual children. They more often had both a disorder in both receptive and expressive language, and a language disorder with additional (developmental) problems. Conclusions & Implications: This study revealed a bias in age of referral of young children with language disorders. The results implicate the need for objective language screening instruments and the need to increase the awareness of staff in primary child healthcare of red flags in language development of girls and multilingual children aiming at earlier identification of language disorders in these children.
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Introduction: Youth activity guideline compliance is generally low across most western countries and Dutch youth are no exception to this. Thirty-two percent of 4-11 year old boys and girls, and 15% of 12-17 year olds are currently meeting the physical activity (PA) guideline recommendations of one hour of daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (Hildebrandt, Ooijendijk, & Hopman Rock, 2008). Physical education (PE) has been attributed an important role in providing young people with physical activity (Kahn, et al., 2002). If sufficiently active, PE lessons could contribute to physical activity levels in youth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the overall intensity of Dutch primary and secondary school physical education (PE) lessons and the influence of various lesson characteristics on these intensity levels. Methods: Heart rates were measured using the Polar Team System in a nationally distributed sample of 913 students in 40 schools (20 primary schools and 20 secondary schools) in the Netherlands. A total of 106 lessons were assessed, with 10 students per class (5 boys and 5 girls) wearing a heart rate monitor for the duration of their PE class. Teachers were asked not to deviate from their regular PE program and to carry out their lessons as they had planned. None of the lessons had a specifically planned physical activity intensity focus. Results: Overall percentages lesson time in MVPA were 46.7% and 40.1% during primary school and secondary school PE respectively. Primary school students engaged in significantly more MVPA than did secondary school students (t (890) = 4.635, p<.001). Furthermore, results indicated a sharp decline in girls' PE intensity levels in secondary school, where boys were more active than girls (F (1,912) = 9,58, p<.01). Subsequent analyses of lesson content in secondary school students indicated that girls were less active during teamgames, but not during individual activities or lessons with a mixed subject (both teamgames and individual activities) (45.7% vs. 34.7% F (3,451) = 16.31, p<.001, figure 1). Discussion: Our results show that one PE lesson roughly accounts for one-third of the daily amount of physical activity as prescribed by activity guidelines. Furthermore, previous research has shown that by including lesson intensity as an additional lesson goal it is relatively simple to increase lesson intensity (Verstraete, Cardon, De Clercq, & De Bourdeaudhuij, 2007). Therefore, increasing lesson intensity combined with increasing the number of weekly PE lessons seems an effective strategy to increase youth physical activity through PE. However, given the curricular and time constraints in most schools, PE should not be seen as a stand-alone solution for combating inactivity. Combined with other school-based PA opportunities (active transport, active breaks) however, PE could make a meaningful contribution to daily PA in youth. Finally, the high prevalence of coeducational teamgames (61% of all lessons) in the Dutch secondary school PE curricula might prevent girls from attaining similar physical activity levels to boys during PE. Therefore, more research is needed on maximising secondary school girls' participation during teamgames.
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Validity and Reproducibility of a New Treadmill Protocol: The Fitkids Treadmill Test. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 47, No. 10, pp. 2241–2247, 2015. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the validity and reproducibility of a new treadmill protocol in healthy children and adolescents: the Fitkids Treadmill Test (FTT). Methods: Sixty-eight healthy children and adolescents (6–18 yr) were randomly divided into a validity group (14 boys and 20 girls; mean T SD age, 12.9 T 3.6 yr) that performed the FTT and Bruce protocol, both with respiratory gas analysis within 2 wk, and a reproducibility group (19 boys and 15 girls; mean T SD age, 13.5 T 3.5 yr) that performed the FTT twice within 2 wk. A subgroup of 21 participants within the reproducibility group performed both FTT with respiratory gas analysis. Time to exhaustion (TTE) was the main outcome of the FTT. Results: V˙ O2peak measured during the FTT showed excellent correlation with V˙ O2peak measured during the Bruce protocol (r = 0.90; P G 0.01). Backward multiple regression analysis provided the following prediction equations for V˙ O2peak (LIminj1) for boys and girls, respectively: V˙ O2peak FTT ¼ j0:748 þ ð0:117 TTEFTTÞ þ ð0:032 bodymassÞ þ 0:263, and V˙ O2peak FTT ¼ j0:748 þ ð0:117 TTEFTTÞ þ ð0:032 bodymassÞ [R2 ¼ 0:935; SEE ¼ 0:256LI min j1]. Cross-validation of the regression model showed an R2 value of 0.76. Reliability statistics for the FTT showed an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.985 (95% confidence interval, 0.971–0.993; P G 0.001) for TTE. Bland–Altman analysis showed a mean bias of j0.07 min, with limits of agreement between +1.30 and j1.43 min. Conclusions: Results suggest that the FTT is a useful treadmill protocol with good validity and reproducibility in healthy children and adolescents. Exercise performance on the FTT and body mass can be used to adequately predict V˙ O2peak when respiratory gas analysis is not available.
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Background. Recent research has shown that the Fitkids Treadmill Test (FTT) is a valid and reproducible exercise test for the assessment of aerobic exercise capacity in children and adolescents who are healthy. Objective. The study objective was to provide sex- and age-related normative values for FTT performance in children and adolescents who were healthy, developing typically, and 6 to 18 years of age. Design. This was a cross-sectional, observational study. Methods. Three hundred fifty-six children and adolescents who were healthy (174 boys and 182 girls; mean age12.9 years, SD3.7) performed the FTT to their maximal effort to assess time to exhaustion (TTE). The least-mean-square method was used to generate sex- and age-related centile charts (P3, P10, P25, P50, P75, P90, and P97) for TTE on the FTT. Results. In boys, the reference curve (P50) showed an almost linear increase in TTE with age, from 8.8 minutes at 6 years of age to 16.1 minutes at 18 years of age. In girls, the P50 values for TTE increased from 8.8 minutes at 6 years of age to 12.5 minutes at 18 years of age, with a plateau in TTE starting at approximately 10 years of age. Limitations. Youth who were not white were underrepresented in this study. Conclusions. This study describes sex- and age-related normative values for FTT performance in children and adolescents who were healthy, developing typically, and 6 to 18 years of age. These age- and sex-related normative values will increase the usefulness of the FTT in clinical practice.
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Brains and gender, separately and in their interrelatedness, are hot items today in popular journals and academic literature. It is in particular the complexity of the interdependence of physical-, psychological-, and contextual-related developments of feminization in education that we focus on these contributions. We argue that a combination of recent findings of brain research and Marcia's psychological model of identity development in a “provocative pedagogy”—combining youngsters’ (boys and girls) need for exploration, console, and support—is a promising “stepped care” strategy for religious development of youngsters in a multicultural and multireligious context.
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