Physical Activity & Weight Concerns: Adolescent Girls

缺乏体育锻炼会增加肥胖、乳腺癌、心血管疾病、骨质疏松症和2型糖尿病的风险。肥胖与青春期女孩的体重问题和负面身体形象直接相关，使她们面临饮食失调、自尊心下降和抑郁症状的风险。此外，缺乏身体活动与青少年吸烟直接相关。现在有令人信服的证据表明，女孩在青春期早期身体活动明显减少。然而，记录在案的身体活动下降并没有得到很好的理解，现有的理论一直未能描述或预测青少年的运动模式。在以前的工作中，主要研究者发展了行为意义理论，并表明这是一个重要的心理因素，可以解释青春期饮食模式和睡眠习惯的饮食变化。在目前的提案中，我们假设这一新理论将有助于解释青春期女孩身体活动的下降，并为增加身体活动的干预措施提供创新方法。本研究建议：1）深入研究青春期女孩身体活动的决定因素，并调查身体活动与各种结果之间的联系机制，重点关注女孩对身体活动意义的解释，以及2）制定具有文化敏感性的干预措施，以改善西班牙裔和白人青春期女孩的身体活动。Spruijt-Metz博士的短期培训目标是获得身体成分研究，儿童和青少年身体活动和营养以及高级统计学方面的技能。她的长期职业目标是成为一名独立的研究人员，在青少年健康的综合方案。南加州大学为儿童和青少年的身体活动和健康促进研究提供了一个出色的环境。预防医学系长期以来一直培养年轻科学家的职业生涯。私家侦探的能力。与赞助商Goran博士互动，除了Anderson-Johnson博士，斯泰西博士，周博士和南加州大学的其他优秀科学家将促进她作为独立研究者的持续发展。

Physical inactivity increase risk for obesity, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes. Obesity has been directly related to weight concerns and negative body image in adolescent girls, putting them at risk for eating disorders, lowered self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Further, physical inactivity has been directly related to smoking uptake in adolescents. Compelling evidence now suggests that marked decline in physical activity in girls occurs during early adolescence. However, the documented decline in physical activity is not well understood, and existing theories have consistently failed to describe or predict adolescent exercise patterns. In previous work the Principle Investigator has developed the Theory of Meanings of Behavior, and shown that this is an important psychological element that explains behavioral changes in dietary changes in dietary patterns and sleeping habits in adolescence. In the current proposal, we hypothesize that this new theory will help to explain the decline in physical activity in adolescent girls and provide an innovative approach for interventions that will increase physical activity. This study proposes 1) an in-depth study of the determinants of physical activity in adolescent girls as well as an investigation of the mechanisms that link physical activity to various outcomes, focusing on how long girls interpret the meanings of physical activity, and 2) the development of culturally sensitive intervention to improve physical activity in Hispanic and Caucasian adolescent girls. Dr. Spruijt-Metz's short-term training goals are to acquire skills in body composition research, physical activity and nutrition in children and adolescents, and in advanced statistics. Her long term career goal is to become an independent researcher with an integrated program in adolescent health. The University of Southern California provides an outstanding environment for physical activity and health promotion research in children and adolescents. The department of Preventive Medicine has long fostered the careers of young scientists. The ability of the P.I. to interact with the sponsor, Dr. Goran, in addition to Dr. Anderson-Johnson, Dr. Stacy, Dr. Chou, and other excellent scientist at USC will promote her continued development as an independent researcher.