To Move More and Sit Less: Does Physical Activity/ Fitness Knowledge Matter in Youth?

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1 Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2017, 36, Human Kinetics, Inc. ARTICLE To Move More and Sit Less: Does Physical Activity/ Fitness Knowledge Matter in Youth? Senlin Chen and Yang Liu Iowa State University Jodee Schaben University of Wisconsin River Falls Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine physical activity (PA)/fitness knowledge and its association with PA and sedentary behavior in youth. Method: Eighth grade students from five schools (N = 660) in a midwestern state completed a PE Metrics written test and the Youth Activity Profile to assess PA/fitness knowledge, PA (at school and after school) and sedentary behavior, respectively. Results: Participants were clustered into high, medium, and low knowledge groups. Students in the high knowledge group reported higher level of PA after school (p <.05, d =.28) but lower level of sedentary behavior than the low knowledge group (p =.001, d = -.45). The low knowledge group also reported higher PA at school (p <.05, d =.25). PA/Fitness knowledge significantly predicted sedentary behavior, particularly in the low knowledge group (β = -.32, t = -2.46, p <.05, R 2 =.105), after controlling for gender and race/ethnicity. Conclusion: Physical education focused on conveying PA/fitness knowledge is warranted to educate youth to move more and sit less. Keywords: learning; PE metrics; physical activity/fitness knowledge; physical education School physical education (PE) is an instrumental setting to promote youth physical activity (PA) and health-related physical fitness (Chen, Kim, & Gao, 2014; Corbin et al., 2014; Smith, Lounsbery, & McKenzie, 2014; Welk et al., 2010). Participating in regular PA and maintaining health-enhancing physical fitness are two essential elements of the physical literacy as stipulated in the latest iteration of national PE standards (Corbin, 2016; Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE America], 2014). Nonetheless, both longitudinal and cross-sectional research have illustrated an age-specific decline trend for youth PA (Nader, Bradley, Houts, McRitchie, & O Brien, 2008; Troiano et al., 2008) and health-related physical fitness (cardiorespiratory endurance, in particular) (Bai, Saint-Maurice, & Welk, in press; Bai et al., 2015; Welk et al., 2010). In the meantime, prevalent sedentary behaviors (such as screen viewing) are observed in children and adolescents (Bai et al., 2016; Pate, Mitchell, Byun, & Dowda, 2011). Sedentary behavior is defined as any waking behavior in a sitting or reclining posture with intensity equal to or smaller than 1.5 metabolic Chen and Liu are with the Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Schaben is with the Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Wisconsin River Falls, River Falls, WI. Address author correspondence to Senlin Chen at slchen11@iastate.edu. equivalent (Sedentary Behavior Research Network, 2012). Inadequate moderate-to-vigorous PA and excess sedentary behavior pose joint as well as independent significant risks to weight status and health outcomes (Bai et al., 2016; Welk & Kim, 2017). As such, there is a need to teach school-aged youth to move more and sit less through school programs such as PE (Chen, Kim, et al., 2014). Although both PA and physical fitness are important to health, PA is the precursor of fitness and it is the behavior more responsive to school programming. For this reason, we focused on youth activity in this study, including PA and sedentary behavior, rather than physical fitness as the behavioral constructs. Traditionally, PA is placed at the center of school PE, regardless of the philosophical perspectives of education through the physical or education of the physical (Siedentop, 2009, pp. 40). Through participating in meaningful movement tasks in PE classes, students receive formally structured education about knowledge, skills, behaviors, and dispositions that are deemed essential for healthful-living and performance (Ennis, 2007; SHAPE America, 2014). PE class is also a primary venue from which school-aged youth accumulates PA time to meet the recommended at least daily 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Recent PA promotion strategies have employed comprehensive ecological models such as 142

2 Knowledge and Behavior 143 the comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013) or the whole of school approach (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2013). Both CSPAP and whole of school acknowledge PE as a subject that plays a crucial role in leading and supporting PA promotion in schools. To promote youth PA and fitness, students need to understand the scientific knowledge of PA and fitness (PA/fitness knowledge). PE-based fitness education typically focuses on teaching students knowledge, skills, and habits of PA that lead to health-related physical fitness (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 2012). Physical educators are advised to design and convey coherent fitness education by following the Instructional Framework for Fitness Education in PE a scope and sequence guidebook prescribed by SHAPE America (NASPE, 2012). Effective fitness education curricula are also available for schools to adopt to improve students PA and fitness levels. For example, the Fitness for Life is an evidence-based curriculum that educates students about knowledge and skills related to health-related physical fitness (Corbin & Le Masurier, 2014). The Science, PE, and Me curriculum is another evidence-based curriculum for fitness education (Ennis & Lindsay, 2008). Both curricula have demonstrated efficacy to enhance students fitness knowledge (Sun, Chen, Zhu, & Ennis, 2012; Thompson & Hannon, 2012). More evidence is warranted to shed light on how knowledgeable students are about PA and fitness when they reach certain developmental stages (e.g., by the end of middle school) as a result of conventional PE programming and whether the level of PA/fitness knowledge they have achieved is associated with PA and sedentary behavior. National PE Standards and the PE Metrics PA and health-related physical fitness have been stated as learning outcomes in the national PE standards (NASPE, 1995; 2004; SHAPE America, 2014). Two of the six standards in the second edition of the national PE standards clearly state that Standard 3 The physically educated person participates regularly in physical activity. and Standard 4 The physically educated person achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness (NASPE, 2004). These two standards have been recently merged into one single standard in the latest edition of the national PE standards, which states Standard 3 The physically literate individual demonstrates the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness (SHAPE America, 2014). The new standard stresses knowledge and skills as determining factors of PA and health-related fitness, while direct assessment of PA and fitness is not explicitly stated. To keep students learning achievement accountable in PE, measurement experts developed the PE Metrics, a comprehensive assessment package to assess students standardized achievement based upon the 2004 edition of national PE standards (NASPE, 2010; 2011). Most of the effort was devoted to developing and validating standardized tests to assess the attainment of standard 1 (testing procedures, video recording, rubrics, and coding), while written tests were created to assess the attainment of standards 2 6 (NASPE, 2010; 2011). For standards 3 and 4 (i.e., specific to PA and fitness), in particular, PE Metrics has four separate written tests for the second grade, fifth grade, eighth grade, and high school PE, respectively, assessing students PA/ fitness knowledge by these grade levels. In this study, we focused on eighth grade as the research population, because it is the age group (e.g., about 14 years old) when students daily PA level has declined to the borderline of 60 minutes MVPA (Nader et al., 2008; Troiano et al., 2008). Hence, examining eighth grade students PA/ fitness knowledge and its association bears significant implications for youth PA promotion in this particular age group. In addition, eighth grade is also the last year of middle school education in most schools in the state. Studying eighth grade students PA/fitness knowledge and behavior will reflect their level of readiness for (senior) high school. Although PE Metrics does not have specific assessments that directly measure students levels of PA and fitness, an abundance of validated PA assessments have been used in PE research and practice to assess students level of PA during PE classes as well as outside of PE. These instruments include self-report questionnaires, direct observation protocols, and objective sensor-based monitors. The utility of these instruments often reflects a balance between assessment validity and feasibility (Trost & Rice, 2012). For fitness assessment, several popular youth fitness assessment batteries have been implemented in schools in the past (e.g., AAHPERD Youth Fitness Tests, FitnessGram, and President s Challenge), but FitnessGram has been the most popular choice in recent years because it has been recognized as the only youth fitness assessment tool by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program in 2013 (Corbin et al., 2014). Level of PA/Fitness Knowledge and Its Implication for Behavior Empirical studies have attempted to assess students knowledge about PA and fitness using a variety of instruments, and these studies all seemed to concur that students of various age groups, on average, have inadequate knowledge about PA (Brusseau, Kulinna, & Cothran, 2011) and fitness (Chen & Nam, in press; Keating, Chen, Guan, Harrison, & Dauenhauer, 2009; Keating, Harrison, et al., 2009). Findings from qualitative research also demonstrated that students in elementary and middle schools held misconceptions or naïve conceptions about exercise and fitness (Pasco & Ennis, 2015a; 2015b; Placek et al., 2001). Inadequate knowledge about

3 144 Chen, Liu, and Schaben PA, exercise, and fitness is believed to bear significant implications for health-related behaviors including, but not limited to, PA and exercising (Chen & Chen, 2014; Chen & Nam, in press; Chen, Zhu, Welk, & Kim, 2015; Pasco & Ennis, 2015a; 2015b). Therefore, it is important to convey coherent education in PE for students to gain the scientific conceptions of such knowledge. In actuality, teaching students PA/fitness knowledge is a typical goal of fitness education in PE classes. Nonetheless, mixed findings have been reported regarding the association between PA/fitness knowledge and behavior (Chen, Sun, Zhu, & Chen, 2014; Thompson & Hannon, 2012). For example, Chen et al. (2014) examined the association between fitness knowledge learned from PE, along with motivation factors, and after-school PA in elementary school students (N = 293). The level of fitness knowledge (assessed by a valid written test with items) was found not to predict students PA during after school hours (assessed by a self-report recall instrument). In another study that focused on high school students (N = 165), Thompson and Hannon (2012) found a positive correlation (r =.44, p <.001) between health-related fitness knowledge (as measured by a 100-item written test) and self-reported PA (as measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire Adolescents), with the high knowledge students showing significant higher level of PA than the low knowledge group. The mixed findings about the association between PA/fitness knowledge and behavior may attribute to a number of factors such as the age/school level of the population being studied and the instruments used to measure knowledge and behavior. Little evidence is available in the research literature to inform the level of PA/fitness knowledge in middle school students, an important age group for youth PA promotion and intervention. This study capitalized on addressing two research questions: (a) how knowledgeable are eighth grade students about PA and health-related physical fitness? and (b) to what extent is PA/fitness knowledge associated with PA and sedentary behavior? Given the findings of existing research studies, it was hypothesized that eighth grade students would have limited knowledge about PA/fitness (as learners in other age groups), and the association between PA and sedentary behavior would be weak to moderate. Using the PE Metrics written test to assess eighth grade students PA/fitness knowledge would generate informative findings about students learning achievement in PE as the assessment closely aligns with the national PE standards. In addition, studying the relationship between PA/fitness knowledge and behavior in middle school students will fill the gap in the literature on this population. Last but not the least, excess sedentary behavior is a positive risk factor for health on top of insufficient moving (Bai et al., 2016; Chen, Kim, et al., 2014; Welk & Kim, 2017); thus, studying the association between PA/fitness knowledge and sedentary behavior may funnel future research to arrive at pedagogical strategies and solutions that would enable students to sit less and move more in their daily lives. Methods Setting and Participants Data for this study originated from a participatory research network established between the university and public schools in the state. The PE teachers of the schools within this network had previously received training on how to collect survey and behavioral data. They had worked with the research team for a number of years and benefited from the research findings to inform their practice, while the university gathered and processed the data for research purpose. A Qualtrics survey was distributed to five middle schools or junior high schools which have eighth grade students in a midwestern state. A total of 699 eighth grade students from five schools (median = 134 students per school, ranging from 12 to 354) responded to the survey at the schools media center under the supervision of their PE teachers. Of the five schools, two are located in urban, two in suburban, and one in rural areas. PE was offered three times per week on average, ranging from 2.5 (every other weekday) to 5. The duration of each PE class varied from 40 to 46 minutes, amounting to minutes per week on average (ranging from 105 minutes to 200 minutes per week). The average free and reduced meal eligibility in these schools was 14.7%, ranging from 11.0% to 22.7%. The final sample consisted of 660 students who were evenly distributed by gender (boys: n = 323, 48.94%; girls: n = 337, 51.06%) with predominantly White students for race/ethnicity, which was representative of the student body in the state as well as the school districts. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. All necessary approvals from the participating schools were secured before the data collection. Variables and Measures PA/Fitness Knowledge. PA/fitness knowledge was measured by a standardized written test enclosed in the PE Metrics (NASPE, 2011). The written test was previously validated using Rasch Model analysis, which includes 29 items with a mix of difficulties capturing various person abilities. The test items assess nine different performance descriptors of PA and fitness knowledge: (1) participates in a variety of physical activities as part of a healthful lifestyle (4 items), (2) demonstrates use of self-management skills related to maintaining a physically active lifestyle (2 items), (3) participates in a variety of health-enhancing fitness activities to improve healthrelated physical fitness (3 items), (4) evaluates current level of physical activity (1 item), (5) achieves healthy levels of health-related, criterion-referenced standards for fitness (2 items), (6) applies principles of training to improve and/or maintain the specific components of health-related fitness (6 items), (7) assesses physiological indicators of exercise during and after physical activity (5 items), (8) describes the relationship of cardiorespiratory

4 Knowledge and Behavior 145 fitness, muscle strength and endurance, and flexibility to body composition (3 items), (9) applies principles of conditioning that enhance performance (3 items) (NASPE, 2011). For example, the second item (for the first performance descriptor) is stated as: Mary performs stretching exercises and runs most days of the week to be able to increase her: A. Arm and shoulder strength. B. Muscle endurance and abdominal strength. C. Flexibility and aerobic endurance [correct answer]. D. Flexibility and body weight. PA and Sedentary Behavior. PA and sedentary behavior were measured by the Youth Activity Profile. The Youth Activity Profile has 15 items on a five-point scale capturing PA at school, PA after school, and sedentary behavior (Saint-Maurice & Welk, 2015). This online instrument is unique as a school-based assessment tool because it was calibrated to produce highly accurate group-level estimates of time spent in PA and sedentary behavior, using the Sensewear armband monitor as the concurrent measure (Saint-Maurice & Welk, 2015). Below shows three sample questions measuring PA at school, PA after school, and sedentary behavior, respectively: Q2. During physical education, how often were you running and moving as part of the planned games or activities? Q6. How many days before school (6:00 8:00 a.m.) did you do some form of physical activity for at least 10 minutes? and Q11. How much time did you spend watching TV outside of school time? The Youth Activity Profile items are available online ( Data Collection Data were collected in the spring of An anonymous Qualtrics survey that consisted of background questions (e.g., school name, PE scheduling, grade, gender, race/ ethnicity), PE Metrics knowledge test, and Youth Activity Profile was distributed to the participating schools. PE teachers were asked to administer the survey to their students in eighth grade. Two weeks before the testing day, the Qualtrics link was sent to the PE teachers who were asked to take the survey themselves beforehand to familiarize to the assessment. We did not receive any questions from the PE teachers about the test and questionnaire items. On the testing day, the PE teachers led and monitored the administration of the assessment process at the schools media center, computer laboratory, or with tablets in the gymnasium, whichever was more convenient. Students were encouraged to ask questions, which were immediately answered if any by the teachers as much as they could. For questions that the teachers had no answers to, we encouraged them to the questions to us. We received no questions from the participating teachers. After completion of the survey, data were immediately saved on the Qualtrics server for data processing and analysis. The survey took one PE lesson (i.e., 30 minutes) to complete. Data Processing and Analysis Data were processed following the procedures below. Two weeks after the Qualtrics survey was completed by the five schools, data were downloaded to a Microsoft Excel document and saved on a data processing computer located in a university laboratory. Data cases with more than 50% items unresponded and/or five consecutive items unresponded were removed using the list-wise deletion method. As a result, 39 cases were truncated from the dataset (5.6% cases treated as missing data) while retaining 660 cases as the final sample. The students responses to the knowledge test were scored as 1 (correct) or 0 (incorrect) following the answer key. The sum score was divided by the total number of test items (i.e., 29) for each participant to arrive at the correct percentage score at the individual level, representing the PA/fitness knowledge performance. In addition, the Youth Activity Profile data were aggregated by the constructs of PA at school, PA after school, overall PA (average of PA at school and PA after school), and sedentary behavior, following the protocol. The knowledge and behavior data were matched and linked at the individual level for each participant. Descriptive and inferential data analyses were conducted to address the research questions. Mean and standard deviation for the main outcome variables (i.e., PA/fitness knowledge, PA and sedentary behavior) were computed by gender and race/ethnicity. Descriptive analysis was followed by a series of inferential statistical analyses. First, the sample was empirically clustered into three knowledge groups (high, medium, and low) using the Ward Method. The Ward Method is a criterion applied in cluster analysis to classify a sample into a certain number of subgroups with each group having the minimal within-group variance for a given variable (Ward, 1963). In this study, the sample was categorized into three differentiating groups for PA/fitness knowledge. The clustering result was verified by a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to ensure distinguishable groups. Separate ANOVAs subsequently tested the effect of PA/fitness knowledge (as independent variable; low, medium, and high knowledge groups) on behaviors (i.e., PA at school, PA after school, overall PA, and sedentary behavior). Lastly, multiple regression analyses with PA/ fitness knowledge as a predictor (continuous variable) and behaviors (i.e., PA at school, PA after school, overall PA, and sedentary behavior) as dependent variables were conducted for the overall sample as well as for the subsamples of the three knowledge groups, after controlling for gender and race/ethnicity. School-level covariates such as socioeconomic status and PE scheduling were not entered in the regression models because the five participating schools shared similar characteristics and variation was small. The statistical analyses were operated in SPSS 21 and R and alpha was set as 0.05 for significance tests. Cohen s d (small =.20, medium =.50, and large =.80), η 2 (small =.01, medium =.06, large =.14), and R 2 (amount of variance accounted for) were reported as effect sizes for the inferential analyses.

5 146 Chen, Liu, and Schaben Results Table 1 shows the descriptive results of PA/fitness knowledge by gender and race/ethnicity. The participants demonstrated an overall moderate level of PA/fitness knowledge, with much room for improvement. Both boys and girls scored over 60% correct percentage on the knowledge test. Performance level was slightly higher in girls than boys, but this difference was not statistically significant. PA/fitness knowledge further showed a discrepancy between White and nonwhite students. White students scored about 10% higher than Hispanics/Latino and Other race/ethnicity students and over 21% higher than Black students on the knowledge test (Table 1). Due to disproportionally uneven sample sizes between the ethnic groups, no inferential statistical analysis was conducted to compare the intergroup difference for PA/ fitness knowledge. The above results suggest the need to enhance fitness education to increase eighth grade students knowledge base about PA and physical fitness. Also shown in Table 1 are the descriptive results for the self-reported levels of PA and sedentary behavior. Boys had higher mean PA at school and overall PA than girls, but they showed similar levels of PA after school and sedentary behavior. Both boys and girls demonstrated higher mean PA after school than mean PA at school. This descriptive trend was observed in all racial/ethnic groups except for Hispanics/Latino students whose mean PA level was similar between at school and after school hours. White students showed overall higher mean PA after school and lower mean sedentary behavior than non-white students. Taken together PA/fitness knowledge and behavior variables, girls demonstrated a higher level of knowledge but lower level of PA behavior than boys. In particular, girls had significantly lower PA at school and overall PA than boys. Gender differences for PA/fitness knowledge and behavior outcomes were similar across different racial/ethnic groups. To examine the association between PA/fitness knowledge and behaviors, we clustered the students into three knowledge groups using the Ward method. Specifically, high, medium, and low knowledge groups were clustered and results were subsequently verified by ANOVA (F 2, 625 = , p <.001, η 2 = 0.84). Table 2 shows the descriptive results for knowledge, PA at school, PA after school, overall PA, and sedentary behavior across the three knowledge groups. ANOVAs showed significant group effect (with small to medium effect sizes) for PA at school (F 2,619 = 3.25, p <.05, η 2 = 0.01), PA after school (F 2, 617 = 3.45, p <.05, η 2 = 0.01) and sedentary behavior (F 2,613 = 11.12, p <.01, η 2 = 0.04). Bonferroni post hoc multiple comparison tests showed significant differences in PA after school (p <.05, favoring the high knowledge group with small effect size, d =.28), and sedentary behavior (p <.01, favoring the high knowledge group with medium effect size, d = -.45), and PA at school (p <.05, favoring the low knowledge group with small effect size, d = -.26) between high and low knowledge groups. Further, significant difference was also observed between medium and low knowledge group for sedentary behavior (p <.01), favoring the medium knowledge group. Results from multiple regression analyses demonstrated that PA/fitness knowledge negatively predicted sedentary behavior (β = -.13 t = , p < 0.01, R 2 =.025), after controlling for gender and ethnicity. No significant predictions were observed from knowledge to PA outcomes (p >.05). Subsequent linear regression analysis for each knowledge group revealed that PA/fitness knowledge negatively predicted sedentary behavior (β = -.32, t = , p <.05, R 2 =.105) only in the low knowledge group, after controlling for gender and ethnicity. Significant prediction was not observed in the high and the medium knowledge groups (p >.05). Discussion The purpose of this study was to examine eighth grade students knowledge achievement about PA and healthrelated physical fitness, as well as its association with PA and sedentary behavior. PA/Fitness knowledge was Table 1 Descriptive Results for Knowledge and Behaviors by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (N = 660) Background Knowledge PA at School PA after School Overall PA Sedentary Behavior Gender Boys.64 (.21) 3.00 (.90) 3.55 (1.01) 3.27 (.74) 2.73 (.77) Girls (337).69 (.18) 2.71 (.82) 3.51 (.82) 3.11 (.63) 2.66 (.66) Race/Ethnicity Black.47 (.21) 2.69 (1.05) 3.33 (.97) 3.08 (.70) 2.91 (1.11) Hispanics.58 (.22) 3.02 (.86) 3.01 (.90) 3.00 (.74) 2.98 (.75) White.68 (.19) 2.83 (.87) 3.56 (.89) 3.20 (.69) 2.68 (.71) Other.59 (.22) 2.89 (.90) 3.47 (1.09) 3.17 (.78) 2.78 (.84) Note. PA = physical activity. PA/fitness knowledge M/SD scores are on the scale of (or 0 100% correct response); PA at school, PA after school, overall PA M/SD scores are on the scale of 1 5, with the higher score meaning the higher level of PA; Sedentary behavior M/SD scores are on the scale of 1 5, with the higher score meaning the higher sedentary behavior.

6 Knowledge and Behavior 147 Table 2 Knowledge and Behaviors Outcomes Across Three Knowledge Groups (N = 660) Variables Knowledge Groups N M SD Cohen s d (high vs low) PA/Fitness Knowledge High Medium Low PA at School High Medium Low PA after School High Medium Low Overall PA High Medium Low Sedentary Behavior High Medium Low Note. PA = physical activity. PA/fitness knowledge M/SD scores are on the scale of (or 0 100% correct response); PA at school, PA after school, overall PA M/SD scores are on the scale of 1 5, with the higher score meaning the higher level of PA; Sedentary behavior M/SD scores are on the scale of 1 5, with the higher score meaning the higher sedentary behavior. measured by the PE Metrics written test and behaviors were assessed using the Youth Activity Profile. The findings have meaningful implications for PE curriculum and instruction, which are discussed in the following sections. Levels of PA/Fitness Knowledge The first research question of the study was to find out how knowledgeable eighth grade students are about PA and health-related physical fitness. Boys and girls demonstrated similar levels of PA/fitness knowledge with an average of over 60% correct responses on the PE Metrics knowledge test. According to the cluster analysis results, over half of the students were placed in the highperforming knowledge group (346 out 660 scored an average of 81% correct responses; 52.4% of the sample), while a small fraction of the students were placed in the low-performing knowledge group (88 out 660 scored an average of 30% correct responses; 13.3% of the sample) and the rest in the medium-performing knowledge group. The descriptive results suggest that the eighth grade students in these five schools have achieved a moderate level of understanding about PA and health-related physical fitness, albeit there are variations in performance among the students. This finding is consistent with previous conclusions that students could further benefit from focused PE curriculum and instruction to enhance their PA/fitness knowledge (Chen & Chen, 2014; Keating, Harrison, et al., 2009). The large discrepancy in PA/fitness knowledge was between White students and ethnic minority students. This finding corroborates the results from the Keating et al. (2009) study that ethnic minority students tend to have a lower level of knowledge about fitness than White students, and more pedagogical attention and efforts are needed in the future to promote and enhance knowledge achievement among these students. Knowledge to Move More and Sit Less The second research question of the study was to examine the extent to which PA/fitness knowledge is associated with levels of PA and sedentary behavior. PA/Fitness knowledge was found to be positively associated with PA after school, but negatively associated with overall PA and PA at school. Specifically, the high knowledge group demonstrated significantly higher level of PA during after school but lower level of PA during school hours as well as overall PA (i.e., mean of PA at school and PA after school) than the low knowledge group. These results make sense as school-aged youth have relatively more control over and access to PA experiences during after-school hours than at-school hours. Out of school, there are abundant structured PA opportunities such as sports leagues or after-school PA programs as well as unstructured PA opportunities including recreational or lifestyle activities (e.g., walking a dog in the neighborhood) that students can partake and accumulate active time, while PA sources at school are limited unless an active CSPAP is established. This finding is consistent with previous research conclusion that students are more physically active during after school hours than school hours (Gao, Chen, Huang, Stodden, & Xiang, in press;

7 148 Chen, Liu, and Schaben Pate & O Neill, 2009). In addition, the positive relationship between PA/fitness knowledge and PA after school is in line with the conclusion from Thompson and Hannon (2012). This finding suggests that a good understanding of PA and fitness knowledge may inform students to engage in leisure-time PA during after school hours, reinforcing the importance of equipping students with PA/fitness knowledge and enabling them to move more out of their own volition. The finding also points out the urgent need to establish CSPAPs to enforce school-wide PA promotion (Karp, Scruggs, Brown, & Kelder, 2014; Kelder, Karp, Scruggs, & Brown, 2014). Recent research has substantiated the feasibility and effectiveness of CSPAPs in increasing PA time and reducing sedentary behavior through manipulation of the school system (e.g., PE, PA during school, PA before and after school, staff involvement, and family/community engagement) (Carson et al., 2014; CDC, 2013; Centeio et al., 2014; IOM, 2013; Russ, Webster, Beets, & Phillips, 2015). More CSPAPs need to be championed and instituted to show systematic effort on PA promotion. The most encouraging finding of the study is that PA/fitness knowledge demonstrated a small to moderate association with sedentary behavior. Specifically, sedentary behavior was significantly higher in students with low PA/fitness knowledge than those with higher knowledge (d = -.45). Further analyses demonstrated that the association between PA/fitness knowledge and sedentary behavior was the strongest in the low knowledge group, after controlling for gender and race/ethnicity (10.5% variances accounted for). Contemporary youth spends excess sitting time each day on sedentary activities (Pate et al., 2011) and the detrimental effect of sedentary behavior has been sufficiently acknowledged (Bai et al., 2016; Owen, Healy, Matthews, & Dunstan, 2010). To curb and reduce sedentary behavior, countries such as Australia have issued national guidelines for citizens of various age groups regarding sedentary behavior and PA (Australian Department of Health, 2015). In PE research, empirical evidence on students level of sedentary behavior as well as PA during PE classes and outside of PE has emerged (e.g., Chen, Kim, et al., 2014) but more research is needed. The negative association between PA/fitness knowledge and sedentary behavior found in the current study is informative to PE professionals, as most of the PE programs across the nation have failed to meet the Healthy People 2010 recommendation of offering at least 50% class time on MVPA (Sallis et al., 2012). The finding suggests that grasping PA/fitness knowledge may inform youth to sit less, particularly in the student population with low level of PA/fitness knowledge. This was one of the early studies that used PE Metrics written tests to measure middle school students PA/fitness knowledge and examine its association with both PA and sedentary behavior. To date, three editions of national PE standards have been released (NASPE, 1995; 2004; SHAPE America, 2014), and the advent of PE Metrics has made feasible and convenient assessment of students learning achievement as well as program evaluation in PE (NASPE, 2010; 2011). The PE Metrics written test accurately captured the level of PA/fitness knowledge students achieved by the end of middle school (before advancing to high school). A major innovation of the current study is that students PA/fitness knowledge was linked with PA (at school and after school) and sedentary behavior. Our findings have shown that PA/fitness knowledge is a significant correlate of leisure-time PA participation during after school hours and sedentary behavior. Implications These findings support the importance of educating adolescents about PA and physical fitness, in an era when both youth PA and health-related fitness are found to be inadequate and declining by age. The PE Metrics written tests are valid and accessible instruments that PE researchers and teachers may use to measure and monitor students knowledge about PA and fitness. Furthermore, PA/fitness knowledge, as a precursor of PA and sedentary behavior, can be considerably enhanced through focused PE curricula (e.g., Thompson & Hannon, 2012). For these reasons, we encourage PE teachers to adopt and implement fitness education curricula (e.g., Fitness for Life; Corbin & Le Masurier, 2014) to strengthen students knowledge, skills, and behaviors with regard to PA and fitness. Another practical implication of the findings lies in that teachers and school staff need to be aware of and enforce CSPAP initiatives, as attempts to promote youth PA in the school system. Decades of evidence have amounted to substantiate the positive linkage between PA/fitness and academic achievement (CDC, 2010) and that CSPAP or the whole-of-school approach is viable to increase youth PA (Carson et al., 2014). Preservice and in-service training should adopt CSPAP initiatives and educate teachers and school personnel the know-how of establishing CSPAPs. Last but not the least; the findings suggest the need to focus on reducing sedentary behavior both in and out of PE lessons. For instance, it is important for students to learn through PE and health classes about what sedentary behavior is, how excess sedentary behavior may impact health, and how to effectively reduce daily sedentary behavior. Topical content of sedentary behavior may be developed and incorporated into fitness education units. Strengths and Limitations The strengths of this study include having a large sample size and using validated instruments. A large sample ensured adequate power for inferential statistical analyses. To address the possible inflation of statistical analyses based on a large sample size (Zhu, 2012), we reported effect sizes along with significance level (i.e., the p score). In addition, using valid instruments in this study increased the trustfulness of the data collected from the participants. Aside from the strength, we also acknowledge several limitations of the study. First, despite a large sample size, the sample was recruited from five schools

8 Knowledge and Behavior 149 (2 urban, 2 suburban, and 1 rural) with relatively high average socioeconomic status (11 26% free/reduced meal eligibility) and predominantly White students. The findings may be only generalizable to schools of similar characteristics. The second limitation of the study is that PA and sedentary behavior were measured using a selfreport instrument, while an objective measure such as accelerometer would show better accuracy. However, it would be difficult to use accelerometers to measure PA/ sedentary behavior in a large sample due to the high cost of this measurement method. The Youth Activity Profile as a validated tool was easy to administer, which made it the most feasible and applicable tool in this study. The other limitation of the study relates to the correlational research design of the study. Limited by the design, it is cautioned that no cause-effect relationship between PA/fitness knowledge and PA and behavior should be assumed. 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