Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training
Published on: July 27, 2022
Commercial venues as supports for physical activity in adolescent girls
Marsha Dowda1, Thomas L McKenzie, Deborah A Cohen
1Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, 921 Assembly Street, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. mdowda@gwm.sc.edu
Objective:
The purposes of this study were to describe the types and availability of commercial facilities for physical activity (PA) in six diverse geographic areas (Washington DC and Maryland; South Carolina; Minnesota; Louisiana; Arizona; and California) and to assess the relationship between those facilities and the non-school PA of adolescent girls.
Methods:
A total of 1556 6th grade girls participating in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) wore accelerometers for 7 days providing 6 days of complete data, completed questionnaires in 2003 and had their residential addresses geocoded. Nearby commercial facilities available to provide PA (i.e. dance studios, youth organizations) within a 1-mile radius of participants' residences were identified and geocoded. The association between the presence of any commercial PA facility and girls' PA was determined using a multi-level design and controlling for demographic characteristics and other potential confounders. Analyses were conducted in 2005-2006.
Results:
Sixty-eight percent of the girls had at least one commercial PA facility near their homes. Availability and types of commercial PA facilities differed by where participants lived. Girls who lived near one or more commercial PA facilities had higher non-school MET-weighted moderate-to-vigorous PA than girls who had none near their homes.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that commercial PA facilities are important contributors to the accumulation of PA among adolescent girls.
Related Concept Videos
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention II
The agent-host-environment model states that disease results from...
Exercise and Muscle Performance
Endurance exercises
Endurance exercises involve running, swimming, or cycling, which require repetitive movements with low force output. When a person engages in endurance exercise, a few noticeable changes occur in their skeletal muscles. For instance, the number of capillaries...
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention I
The health belief model (HBM) attempts to predict health-related behavior in specific belief patterns. According to the HBM, a person's...
Signs of Puberty
Exercise and Cardiovascular Response
Light to moderate physical activity initiates a series of interconnected responses in the body. The heart rate modestly increases in anticipation of the workout, followed by widespread vasodilation as oxygen consumption by skeletal muscles increases. This results in decreased peripheral resistance, increased capillary blood flow, and accelerated...
Chest Physiotherapy
Purpose
CPT is primarily used for patients with excessive bronchial secretions who have difficulty clearing...
