IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i3p1927-d1042194.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects on Children’s Physical and Mental Well-Being of a Physical-Activity-Based School Intervention Program: A Randomized Study

Author

Listed:
  • Santo Marsigliante

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (Di.S.Te.B.A.), University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Manuel Gómez-López

    (Department of Physical Activity, Sport Faculty of Sports Science, University of Murcia, 30720 Murcia, Spain)

  • Antonella Muscella

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (Di.S.Te.B.A.), University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of physically active breaks of a total duration of 10 min a day, introduced during curricular lessons, together with a 10 min physical activity intervention during the daily school recess period on obesity prevention, fitness, cognitive function, and psychological well-being in school-aged children. A sample of 310 children (139 boys vs. 171 girls), aged between 8 and 10 years (9.82 ± 0.51), was selected. Our strategy was implemented over a 6-month period and the participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group ( n = 157) or the non-intervention (control) group ( n =153). In the intervention group, a significant decrease ( p < 0.05) in body mass index, waist circumference, waist–height ratio, and relative body fat mass was achieved after the intervention (T1) compared to the values measured before intervention (T0); in the control group, no differences emerged between T0 and T1 for any of the parameters considered. We found a significant increase in the intervention group in standing long jump, Ruffier, and sit and reach test scores ( p < 0.001 for all). At T0, cognitive test scores did not differ between the girls and boys or between the intervention and control groups; instead at T1, significant differences were observed in the two groups regarding the total number of responses and the concentration performance scores ( p < 0.001). Consistently, in the intervention group, well-being levels significantly increased between T0 and T1 ( p < 0.001). Finally, the intervention had significant effects on the children regardless of gender. We may therefore conclude that schools should create more opportunities for teachers and students to introduce intervention strategies to promote regular PA during school recess.

Suggested Citation

  • Santo Marsigliante & Manuel Gómez-López & Antonella Muscella, 2023. "Effects on Children’s Physical and Mental Well-Being of a Physical-Activity-Based School Intervention Program: A Randomized Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1927-:d:1042194
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1927/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1927/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catharine R Gale & Rachel Cooper & Leone Craig & Jane Elliott & Diana Kuh & Marcus Richards & John M Starr & Lawrence J Whalley & Ian J Deary, 2012. "Cognitive Function in Childhood and Lifetime Cognitive Change in Relation to Mental Wellbeing in Four Cohorts of Older People," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-9, September.
    2. Weiyun Chen & Xiangli Gu & Jun Chen & Xiaozan Wang, 2022. "Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cognitive Function with Psychological Well-Being in School-Aged Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-10, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Raphiel Murden & Jon Agley & Lilian Golzarri-Arroyo & Armando Peña & Danny Valdez & Abu Bakkar Siddique & Moonseong Heo & David B. Allison, 2023. "Comment on Marsigliante et al. Effects on Children’s Physical and Mental Well-Being of a Physical-Activity-Based School Intervention Program: A Randomized Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 20," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(23), pages 1-5, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martha Spanou & Nektarios Stavrou & Aspasia Dania & Fotini Venetsanou, 2022. "Children’s Involvement in Different Sport Types Differentiates Their Motor Competence but Not Their Executive Functions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Stone Celeste & Scott Leslie & Battle Danielle & Maher Patricia, 2014. "Locating Longitudinal Respondents After a 50-Year Hiatus," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 30(2), pages 311-334, June.
    3. Bridger, Emma & Daly, Michael, 2020. "Intergenerational social mobility predicts midlife well-being: Prospective evidence from two large British cohorts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    4. Wendy Ellyatt, 2022. "Education for Human Flourishing—A New Conceptual Framework for Promoting Ecosystemic Wellbeing in Schools," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Jiling Liu & Ping Xiang, 2023. "Expectancy-Value Motivation and Physical Activity- and Health-Related Outcomes among At-Risk Children and Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-10, July.
    6. José A. Páez-Maldonado & Rafael E. Reigal & Juan P. Morillo-Baro & Hernaldo Carrasco-Beltrán & Antonio Hernández-Mendo & Verónica Morales-Sánchez, 2020. "Physical Fitness, Selective Attention and Academic Performance in a Pre-Adolescent Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-11, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1927-:d:1042194. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.