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RAND:
Adolescent girls who live within one-half mile of a public park are significantly more physically active than other girls, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.
"Neighborhood and community parks are strongly associated with physical activity," Cohen said.
Using baseline data from the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls --- a national research study focusing on middle school girls --- the RAND study examined the physical activity of 1,556 girls in the sixth grade in six cities.
"The U.S. surgeon general recommends that all children and adolescents get at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, so we still have a long way to go in encouraging girls to be active," Cohen said.
The study also found that parks with "active" amenities --- such as basketball courts, playgrounds and walking paths --- were associated with more physical activity than parks with "passive" amenities, such as picnic areas and lawn games.
Girls were less active if the nearby parks had skateboarding facilities, which Cohen attributed to skateboarding being more popular with males than females.
Previous studies have shown that girls become less physically active once they reach adolescence, and that girls are generally less physically active than boys.
Posted on November 9, 2006 08:08 PM
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