Physical Activity & Weight Concerns: Adolescent Girls

缺乏运动增加肥胖、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担忧和负面身体形象直接相关，使她们面临饮食失调、自尊心降低和抑郁症状的风险。此外，缺乏身体活动与青少年吸烟有直接关系。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，记录在案的体力活动的减少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。在之前的工作中，首席研究员发展了行为意义理论，并表明这是一个重要的心理因素，可以解释青少年饮食模式和睡眠习惯的饮食变化。在目前的建议中，我们假设这个新理论将有助于解释青春期女孩体育活动的减少，并为增加体育活动的干预提供一种创新的方法。本研究提出：1)深入研究青春期女孩体育活动的决定因素，并调查体育活动与各种结果之间的联系机制，重点关注女孩解释体育活动意义的时间长短；2)开发文化敏感干预措施，以改善西班牙裔和白人青春期女孩的体育活动。sprujit - metz博士的短期培训目标是获得身体成分研究、儿童和青少年的身体活动和营养以及高级统计方面的技能。她的长期职业目标是成为青少年健康综合项目的独立研究员。南加州大学为儿童和青少年的体育活动和健康促进研究提供了良好的环境。预防医学系长期以来一直培养年轻科学家的事业。私家侦探与赞助人Goran博士、Anderson-Johnson博士、Stacy博士、Chou博士以及南加州大学其他优秀科学家的互动能力，将促进她作为一名独立研究员的持续发展。

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.