There is increasing awareness of the importance of civic engagement in higher education. Service-learning activities in undergraduate programs, in particular, have been linked to positive academic outcomes and gains in various forms of self-efficacy. Exercise Science students at our university complete two service-learning courses as part of the…

Background: Despite the known benefits of physical activity, the prevalence of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are significant issues in public health. Young adults, such as college students, are a population at risk for decreased physical activity participation due to the newfound responsibility of balancing school, work, and personal…

Objective: This study illustrates how a theory-based approach can identify college students' beliefs about stress reduction activities and help-seeking for depression. These beliefs are the basis for intervention design. Participants: A sample of 53 undergraduate students at a public university in the Midwest participated in this research during…

Background: Food-insecure (FIS) adolescents struggle in school and with health and mental health more often than food-secure (FS) adolescents. Rural communities experience important disparities in health, but little is known about rural FIS adolescents. This study aims to describe select characteristics of rural adolescents by food-security…

Purpose: This article describes the effectiveness of goal setting instruction in the CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings) study, an intervention evaluating the effectiveness of weight gain prevention strategies for 2-year college students. Methods: Four hundred and forty-one participants from three community…

When Saul Lerner became director of physical education, athletics, and health for the Bellmore-Merrick (New York) School District 14 years ago, football, soccer, basketball, and floor hockey were staples of most physical education classes on Long Island and around the rest of the country. The mindset of physical educators was to emphasize sports…

Objective: Explore how urban and rural Minnesotans access the food system and to investigate whether community infrastructure supports a healthful food system. Design: Eight (4 urban and 4 rural) focus groups were conducted. Setting and Participants: Eight counties with urban influence codes of 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 10. Fifty-nine (urban, n = 27;…

Problem: No research to date has examined smoking rates among the different fields of study and smoking among college students. Thus, this study aimed to determine if smoking prevalence vary among students in the different fields of study. Method: An online health behavior survey was administered to 25,000 students (n=6,492; 26% response rate).…

The paper presented in this document entitled, Will the Ongoing Practice of Physical Activity and Exercise Help Students to Improve Their Fitness Testing Scores from Fall to Spring? written by Tracy Erlandson, was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Education at Winona State University in…

Minnesota Planning developed the Children's Report Card in 1994 to help the state and its 87 counties gauge the well-being of Minnesota's children and youth. The report was created as an extension of Minnesota Milestones, a long-range plan for the state and a tool to measure results which was developed by Minnesota Planning in 1992. For the first…