Understanding differences between summer vs. school obesogenic behaviors of children: the structured days hypothesis
By Keith Brazendale, Michael W. Beets, R. Weaver, R. Pate, Gabrielle M. Turner-McGrievy, A. Kaczynski, J. Chandler, Amy M Bohnert, Paul T. von Hippel. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2017
630 citations recorded by the source corpus.
BackgroundAlthough the scientific community has acknowledged modest improvements can be made to weight status and obesogenic behaviors (i.e., physical activity, sedentary/screen time, diet, and sleep) during the school year, studies suggests improvements are erased as elementary-age children are released to summer vacation. Emerging evidence shows children return to school after summer vacation displaying accelerated weight gain compared to the weight gained occurring during the school year. Understanding how summer days differ from when children are in school is, therefore, essential.DiscussionThere is limited evidence on the etiology of accelerated weight gain during summer, with few studies comparing obesogenic behaviors on the same children during school and summer. For many children, summer days may be analogous to weekend days throughout the school year. Weekend days are often limited in consistent and formal structure, and thus differ from school days where segmented, pre-planned, restrictive, and compulsory components exist that shape obesogenic behaviors. The authors hypothesize that obesogenic behaviors are beneficially regulated when children are exposed to a structured day (i.e., school weekday) compared to what commonly occurs during summer. This is referred to as the ‘Structured Days Hypothesis’ (SDH). To illustrate how the SDH operates, this study examines empirical data that compares weekend day (less-structured) versus weekday (structured) obesogenic behaviors in U.S. elementary school-aged children. From 190 studies, 155 (~80%) demonstrate elementary-aged children’s obesogenic behaviors are more unfavorable during weekend days compared to weekdays.ConclusionIn light of the SDH, consistent evidence demonstrates the structured environment of weekdays may help to protect children by regulating obesogenic behaviors, most likely through compulsory physical activity opportunities, restricting caloric intake, reducing screen time occasions, and regulating sleep schedules. Summer is emerging as the critical period where childhood obesity prevention efforts need to be focused. The SDH can help researchers understand the drivers of obesogenic behaviors during summer and lead to innovative intervention development.
Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Physiology, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a1f7318c93aab87c04e4bc1dc41164090a01af7
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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Citations in the corpus
- Psychological Impacts of Students on Online Learning During the Pandemic COVID-19 (2020, background): “A study shows that when students are not at school, for example, holidays or study at home, they are physically less active and have a longer time to use mobile phones, and so their use will also feel saturated, even with severe, mild stress (Brazendale et al., 2017).”
- Psychological effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on children and families in the UK (2020, background): “Evidence suggests that when children are out of school (e.g. weekends or summer holidays), they are physically less active, have longer times of screen use, less healthy eating habits and unsteady sleep patterns (Brazendale et al., 2017; Wang, et al. 2019).”
- Immediate Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Quarantine in Youth From Italy and Spain (2020, background): “A review of 190 studies with an American population concluded that, compared to vacation periods and weekends, by being more structured, class days give children more opportunities to be physically active, spend less time in front of screens, and regulate their sleep schedules (Brazendale et al., 20”