Purpose: The wide ranging physical and mental health benefits of physical activity during adolescence are well established and walking has been identified as one of only two forms of physical activity not to show a significant decrease in participation levels across the primary/secondary years. The aim of this paper is to explore the broader…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to apply the theory of planned behavior to predict Danish adolescents' behavioral intention for healthy eating. Design/methodology/approach: A cluster sample survey of 410 students aged 11 to 16 years studying in Grade 6 to Grade 10 was conducted in Denmark. Findings: Perceived behavioral control followed by…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the health promoting school (HPS) on adolescent well-being. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO-collaborative Study in Scotland were analysed using multilevel linear regression analyses for outcome measures: happiness, confidence,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the features of alcopops which make them attractive to Australian adolescents, which features are most important in determining choice of ready-to-drinks (RTDs) over other alcoholic drinks, and whether these vary by age and gender. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods study. Participants in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of a city-wide survey of teenagers' views on their health, and compare this with the outcomes of a science-oriented health intervention called LifeLab, a hospital-based classroom aimed at developing teenagers' attitudes towards their health and that of their future children.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the needs and views of adolescents regarding the development of online support for mental health problems. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured qualitative focus group interviews were conducted with ten groups of Dutch adolescents (n=106), aged 12-19 years, from four urban secondary schools…

Purpose: This paper aims to clarify the extent to which youth sports clubs guide their coaches to recognise health promotion as a part of the coaching practice. The guidance activity of clubs is seen parallel to internal organisational communication. Design/methodology/approach: A survey of 93 (from 120, 78 per cent) youth sports clubs in Finland…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between mother-child and father-child communication and children's life satisfaction, and the moderating effect of communication with stepparents. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO-collaborative Study in Scotland…

Purpose: The shared language of youth includes understandings of concepts that can be different from those of adults. Researchers, in their efforts to explore and illuminate the health behaviours and decision-making processes of young people, use generic terms in their data collecting protocols. This study aims to explore what adolescents…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions of second grade lower vocational students concerning benefits, barriers and strategies of healthy eating and physical activity. Design/methodology/approach: Focus group discussions are conducted with 37 adolescents, from three schools in The Netherlands. A semi-structured…

Purpose: Previous research has shown that religion plays a role in the lives of many youths. This paper aims to extend previous research and examine attendance at religious services and involvement in religious/church activities as separate items to determine if one aspect was more strongly associated with never having had sexual intercourse among…

Purpose: This paper aims to review global adolescent empowerment programmes and develops and proposes a model that can be used with vulnerable adolescents. The model reflects theory and experience drawn from the literature. Design/methodology/approach: The review is a synthesis of articles on empowerment theory, models and programme evaluations.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the implementation by a non-governmental organization (NGO) of an intervention with two different strategies--one employing confrontational approaches, the other cooperative ones--aiming to reduce the rate of successful purchase attempts (PAs) of medium-strength beer in Sweden.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether students' perceptions of their school environment and their adjustment to school are associated with health outcomes across gender and age groups. Design/methodology/approach: Data from the cross-sectional international Health Behavior in School-aged Children Survey of the year 2002…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the evaluation of an internet-delivered stress-prevention program for adolescents as a possible alternative for school-based implementation of mental health promotion. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 904 adolescents in grades eight and nine were assigned to four treatment conditions…