Physical Activity Over Time: Health Outcomes of Elementary School Children

Principal Investigator: Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Research Methodologist: Allison Tracy, Ph.D
Research Consultant: Phil Nader

This two year project is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The objective of the study is to provide comprehensive insight into the mechanisms that promote habits of physical activity in adolescents. The subjects in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care & Youth Development represent one of the largest cohorts on whom multiple measures of physical activity and the associated contexts have been longitudinally collected. The findings from this study can inform the development of practices within school and out-of-school time settings that support children and adolescents to develop sustaining habits of participation in physical activity. The Researchers will consider such findings as having important implications for recommendation and policy changes that might intervene in the development of obesity and associated health consequences. Gaining a comprehensive and clearer understanding of the development of habits of physical activity as related to earlier experiences of physical activity, type of engagement, environmental influences, and competing alternatives will richly inform the youth development and out-of-school time program fields that are in daily contact with children and youth creating and structuring experiences to support healthy growth and development.

Tags: Projects, Georgia Hall