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The study was supported from European Regional Development Fund-Project “Effective Use of Social Research Studies for Practice” (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_025/0007294) and the Czech Science Foundation under reg. No. 18-24977S. Objectives: Associations between the perceived social and physical environment and self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time (ST) were examined among adolescents in four European countries. Methods: Representative samples were surveyed with standardised methodologies. Associations between environmental variables and meeting MVPA recommendations and tertiles of ST were tested in gender-specific logistic regression models. Moderation by country and country-specific relationships were also examined. Results: The most consistent findings across countries were found for the significant associations between neighbourhood social environment and MVPA in both boys and girls. Significant associations with the physical environment varied more between countries and by gender. The most consistent negative associations with ST were found for the social environmental variable of having parental rules for spending time outside the home. Conclusions: The present findings provided evidence for the generalisability of the associations between environmental correlates and MVPA across four European countries. The findings show clear differences in correlates for MVPA and ST. Further research is needed to better understand the unique aspects of the social and physical environment which explain each of the two behaviours. Postprint

Introduction As indicated by the WHO, lifestyle plays a unique role in human health, which in turn is determined to a great extent by physical activity and nutrition. It must be borne in mind that physical activity should be systematic and regulated by an age-appropriate exercise intensity. All this indicates that learning about students' lifestyle, with a particular focus on physical activity is vital as it these young people who aspire to the role of the future elites. Objective The aim of the study is to evaluate the level of physical activity, nutrition- and silhouette-related behaviours of male and female students to assess the relationships between these variables in students from the Visegrad Group countries. Material and methods The study was conducted in 2015 and involved 2,497 students attending three undergraduate levels aged - x - 21,76, (SD-1,80) - 1,211 males (48.5%) and 1,286 females (51.5%). The IPAQ long-form and a questionnaire by the Polish Chief Sanitary Inspector were used. Results Physical activity was significantly higher in male than female students. An important relationship was observed among the larger number of consumed meals, level of physical activity, and silhouette-related behaviours in male students, which was not the case with females. However, there was an important correlation between physical activity in males and females who exercised to increase or decrease body weight (musculature), and took medications to increase body weight (musculature). Conclusions Both males and females showed pro-health attitudes related to the level of physical activity and nutrition- and silhouette-related behaviours.

To achieve a healthy lifestyle, adolescents must be physically active and meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. One of the most natural ways of increasing the amount of PA is active commuting (AC) to school. Recent reviews suggest that peer norms have the potential to shape PA during adolescence in particular. Thus, our primary aim was to investigate whether Czech adolescents misperceive their peers&rsquo, AC behaviors and attitudes towards AC. Our dataset comprised cross-sectional data on 1586 adolescents aged 11&ndash, 15 years. Basic descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Regarding traveling to school, 68% of the Czech adolescents in this study are daily active commuters (walking, cycling, or riding a scooter or skateboard). Less than half of the respondents believed that most of their classmates were commuting to school actively almost daily. The students who believed that most of their classmates commuted to school actively had significantly higher chances of being regular active commuters themselves. The results showed that most of the Czech adolescents misperceived the AC norms of their peers. Thus, there could be potential in using a social norms approach aimed at increasing the level of AC in Czech adolescents through targeted interventions.

The objective of the paper was to investigate the association between PA and general life satisfaction in adolescents, taking into account family affluence and selected psychological, family and school factors. The survey (2015) involved 4085 Polish lower-secondary school students. Life satisfaction was measured with the abridged Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS). Vigorous Physical Activity, self-esteem, family affluence, family relations and the perception of the school environment were considered as independent variables. Hierarchical and path models were applied. The mean SLSS score was M = 4.66 (SD = 2.23), and 36.9% of its variability was explained—mainly by self-esteem. The impact of PA on self-esteem became stronger when family affluence decreased, which led to the conclusion that material status may modify the impact of behavioural factors on the SLSS scores’ variability in adolescence.

Purpose. The aim of the study was to evaluate the physical activity level, nutritional behaviours, and body silhouette concern in 15-17-year-old boys and girls from Eastern European countries.Methods. The research, carried out in 2015, involved 2145 secondary school adolescents, including 877 boys and 1268 girls (mean = 16.5, SD = 2.0). The results of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and Health Behaviours Questionnaire were analysed.Results. The questionnaire results allowed to conclude that boys were definitely more active than girls. A significant relationship between physical activity and the number of meals was found. Another significant relationship was observed between higher physical activity in boys who wanted to gain weight and in girls who wanted to lose weight.Conclusions. Both boys and girls have positive attitudes towards their health with regard to their level of physical activity, nutritional behaviours, and body silhouette concern. A significant relationship was found in the interrelationship among the features considered, with simultaneous gender differentiation.

Background Solutions that increase adolescents’ physical activity without putting added pressure on the school curriculum merit consideration. Thus the aim of this study was to assess the effect of active transport, particularly walking, on the probability to meet the sufficient level of daily physical activity. Methods Research sample consisted of 1864 Czech and Polish adolescents (38% males, mean age 16.2). To assess the active transport, the long form …

Background Increasing level of overweight and obesity among younger generations represents serious public health problem in Czech Republic. This study investigated whether the perception of neighbourhood design and physical activity mediates the last decade BMI increase among Czech adolescents. Methods The sample consisted of 2538 Czech adolescents (42.4% males; aged from 15 to 19). Database was pooled from cross-sectional national measurements preformed since …

Background: Examining the level of physical activity in students is a vital issue as these young people are the future social elite. Methods: The research was conducted in the years 2013&ndash, 2016 and comprised 5008 males and females, mean age of 20.5 &plusmn, 2.1 years, including 2237 (55.3%) students from students from Eastern European National University, Lutsk, and Ternopil State Medical University, Ukraine, as well as 2237 (44.7%) from the Visegrad countries, i.e., University of P&eacute, cs in Hungary, University in Kosice, Slovakia, University of Olomunec in the Czech Republic and the State School of Higher Education in Biała Podlaska, Poland. It applied a diagnostic survey&mdash, the extended version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), supplemented with original questions regarding body weight, height, self-assessment of physical fitness and amount of leisure time. Results: The comparison of students&rsquo, PA from selected European countries, members of the Visegrad group and Ukraine, is particularly vital to the latter country as it demonstrates a different level of socio-economic development. There was noted a significantly higher level of physical activity in students from the Visegrad countries than in Ukraine. Further, there was an overall lower level of physical activity in females compared to males. What was positive about the studied samples was a healthy BMI index in the majority of the male and female respondents, with a significantly higher indicator in Ukraine. Conclusions: Among the factors significantly affecting higher physical activity in both researched samples were the BMI and high self-assessment of physical fitness. There was no significant variation in the level of physical activity and the amount of leisure time, both in those studying in the Visegrad states and Ukraine.