0000000000214585

AUTHOR

Oddrun Samdal

Students' Perception of School and Their Smoking and Alcohol Use: A Cross-National Study

The objective of the paper is to study how 15 year old students' perceptions of the psychosocial environment in their schools, defined as student autonomy, teacher support, student support and demands, relate to smoking and alcohol use. Data from 15 year old students in Finland and Norway are included (n=2.816), using structural equation modelling to test theoretical models. The best model fitting the data shows that low student autonomy, low teacher support, student support and inadequate demands are significantly associated with health compromising behaviours directly, and indirectly through students' satisfaction with school. Low student autonomy is the strongest predictor of the four. T…

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Achieving health and educational goals through schools—a study of the importance of the school climate and the students' satisfaction with school

Over the past two decades many studies have examined the effectiveness of classroom teaching in influencing present and future health and health behaviours. Few of these studies have examined the importance of the students' satisfaction with school as a variable which explains effect, and in particular what determines their satisfaction with school. Based on data from the 'Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey', this paper presents a review of relevant literature and examines how the students' perception of school climate relates to their satisfaction with school. Data from 11-, 13- and 15year-old students in Finland, Latvia, Norway and Slovakia are used. In all countries, the old…

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Associations Between Physical Activity and Perceived School Performance of Young Adolescents in Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Countries

Background: Regular physical activity and doing well in school are important for growing adolescents. In this study, the associations between physical activity and perceived school performance (PSP) are examined together. Methods: Young adolescents from 42 countries (n = 193,949) in Europe and Canada were examined for associations between self-reported moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and PSP. Multinominal analyses were conducted with 0 to 2 days of MVPA and below average PSP as reference categories. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were reported for pooled data and individual countries after controlling for family affluence scale. Results: Girls had better PSP…

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Measurement invariance of the Behavioural Regulation in Sport Questionnaire when completed by young athletes across five European countries

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the factorial validity of the Behavioural Regulation Sport in Questionnaire (BRSQ) when completed by young soccer players in the Promoting Adolescent Physical Activity (PAPA) project (9-15 years old) in 5 European countries (France: n = 1248, Greece: n = 1507, Norway: n = 1397, Spain: n = 2245, and England: n = 1372) and (2) test the measurement invariance of its latent factors across these 5 countries.First, we tested the exploratory structural equation model (ESEM) factor analyses, allowing cross-loadings between factors, against the traditional independent clusters confirmatory factor analysis model (ICM-CFA), with all cross-loadings constrain…

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Promoting Adolescent health through an intervention aimed at improving the quality of their participation in Physical Activity (PAPA): Background to the project and main trial protocol

International audience; Funded by the European Commission, the Promoting Adolescent health through an intervention is aimed at improving the quality of their participation in Physical Activity (PAPA) project revolved around the potential of youth sport to promote children's mental and emotional health and physical activity engagement. A theoretically grounded coach education training programme (i.e. Empowering CoachingTM), which was designed to create a sporting environment which was more positive and adaptive for young children, was customised for grassroots soccer, delivered and evaluated via a multi-method cluster RCT across five European countries; namely, England, France, Greece, Norwa…

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School Satisfaction and School Pressure in the WHO European Region and North America: An Analysis of Time Trends (2002–2018) and Patterns of Co-occurrence in 32 Countries

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the trends between 2002 and 2018 in school pressure and school satisfaction among 15-year-old students, across countries and by gender, in the WHO European region and North America, and explore whether there are variations between countries and by gender in the co-occurrence of school pressure and school satisfaction. Methods: Data from the 32 countries that participated in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (HBSC) study between 2002 and 2018 were used. Statistical analyses included ttests, binary logistic regression analyses, and chi-square tests, as required by each of the study aims. Results: School satisfaction tended to i…

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Changes from 1986 to 2006 in reasons for liking leisure-time physical activity among adolescents

Reasons for participating in physical activity (PA) may have changed in accordance with the general modernization of society. The aim is to examine changes in self-reported reasons for liking leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and their association with self-reported LTPA over a 20-year period. Data were collected among nationally representative samples of 13-year-olds in Finland, Norway, and Wales in 1986 and 2006 (N = 9252) as part of the WHO cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Univariate ANOVAs to establish differences according to gender, year, and country were conducted. In all countries, 13-year-olds in 2006 tended to report higher importance in te…

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Comparing self-reported leisure-time physical activity, subjective health, and life satisfaction among youth soccer players and adolescents in a reference sample

The aim of the study was to examine to what extent young people who play organised soccer rate their leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, life satisfaction, and health more positively and higher than a same-aged population-based reference group (including some adolescents who also played organised soccer). Data from two samples of five countries (England, France, Greece, Norway, and Spain) were included: a sample of soccer players aged 10-14 years who participated in the Promoting Adolescent Physical Activity project [Duda, J.L., Quested, E., Haug, E., Samdal, O., Wold, B., Balaguer, I., …  Cruz, J. (2013). Promoting Adolescent health through an intervention aimed at improvi…

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How to evaluate the effect of seven years of the Norwegian School Fruit Scheme (2007-2014) on fruit, vegetable and snack consumption and weight status: A natural experiment.

Aim: From August 2007 to June 2014, the Norwegian School Fruit Scheme (NSFS) legally established that all pupils in junior high and combined schools (275,000 pupils every year), but not those in primary schools (343,000 pupils every year), were entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable every school day. The NSFS is a natural experiment, unique in terms of scope and lengthiness. Such governmental efforts to improve the diet of the public are rarely evaluated. Thus, an evaluation of the comprehensive, well-designed NSFS is warranted. The aim was to describe how the NSFS can be evaluated using existing data sets. Methods: Four data sets have been identified for the evaluation of the NSFS…

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Trends in Food Habits and Their Relation to Socioeconomic Status among Nordic Adolescents 2001/2002-2009/2010

BACKGROUND: In the Nordic countries, substantial policy and intervention efforts have been made to increase adolescents' consumption of fruit and vegetables and to reduce their intake of sweets and soft drinks. Some initiatives have been formulated in a Nordic collaboration and implemented at national level. In recent years, social inequalities in food habits have been attracted particular governmental interest and several initiatives addressing the socioeconomic gradient in food habits have been highlighted. However, few internationally published studies have evaluated how trends in adolescents' food habits develop in the context of Nordic nutrition policy, or have compared differences bet…

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