In 2008, Stodden and colleagues took a unique developmental approach toward addressing the potential role of motor competence in promoting positive or negative trajectories of physical activity, health-related fitness, and weight status. The conceptual model proposed synergistic relationships among physical activity, motor competence, perceived motor competence, health-related physical fitness,...

In the January 2009 special issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy on built environment and public health, the authors have elucidated the importance of public health research to inform policy actions to preserve and improve the health of communities through collaborative, cost-effective built environment interventions. We recently studied possible policy interventions to enhance the safe...

The city is not just a context for friendships or a problem to be solved through them; it can be a catalyst for these relationships, sparking and strengthening connections between individuals and groups. Shared experiences of and curiosity in cities - expressed through practices that include revisiting familiar places and exploring others for the first time - can draw people together in benefic...

American women still confront workplace barriers (e.g., bias against mothers, inflexible policies) that hinder their advancement at the upper levels of organizations. However, most Americans fail to recognize that such gender barriers still exist. Focusing on mothers who have left the workforce, we propose that the prevalent American assumption that actions are a product of choice conceals work...

This study evaluated "Every Step Counts!"- a 10-wk, structured walking intervention in a community-based senior organization - on promoting physical activity participation, fitness, and well-being among older adults (age ≥ 55 yr). The intervention prescribed pedometer-defined walks in weekly walking schedules. These were fitness-tailored and structured in walking load (intensity/volume) accordi...

Physical activity is a widely accessible and effective tool for improving well-being. This study aimed to unpack the feel-good effects of free-time physical activity. Multilevel models were applied to repeated measures of daily free-time physical activity and four types of feeling states obtained from 190 undergraduate students. Physical activity was not associated with pleasant-deactivated, un...

The present study examined four potential roles of work-related negative affectivity on the associations between self-reported occupational stress and physical well-being among telecommunication employees in Greece. Participants (764, predominantly male) completed a battery of self-report measures on perceived occupational stress, negative affectivity, and illness symptoms. In line with previou...

This study aims to examine the effects of health perception on health belief, life satisfaction, and wellbeing-oriented activities according to swimming participation with middle-aged women. First, the subvariables of health perception, health interest and health concern, did exert significant effects on the subvariables of health belief, perceived benefit and perceived disability. Health inter...

OBJECTIVE To classify families of elderly with depressive symptoms regarding their functioning and to ascertain the presence of an association between these symptoms, family functioning and the characteristics of the elderly. METHOD This was an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study performed with 33 teams of the Family Health Strategy in Dourados, MS. The sample consisted of 374 el...