Text Analysis Of American Youth Physical Activity Policy

The deficiency of physical activity is the biggest problem of public health confronting the 21st century.Not only is it detrimental to the health of individuals,especially teenagers,it has also imposed a heavy burden on the society.America has realized the benefit of physical activity to teenagers’ health and released some policies regarding physical activity in an early stage.Through the analysis of American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity,this research aims at facilitating our understanding of American policies,through which,teenagers-related policies in China can be benefited.The method of literature review and the method of policy textual analysis are adopted in this research to analyze 13 American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity.Furthermore,McCall-Weber’s policy analysis theory is adopted to analyze the content and process of policy.The content of policy is analyzed from the environment,objective and combined strategy of policy,as well as value orientation and the level of physical activity recommended by policy.The process of policy is mainly analyzed from the formulation,implementation and evaluation of policy,etc.It is found through analysis that American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity manifest the following characteristics:1.The goal of the American Youth Physical Activity Policies is to increase physical activity,promote health,and improve quality of life.Adolescent physical activity policies are an important part of the U.S.health strategy.2."Some is good,more is better" is the core thought of activity level proposed by policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity,and it has experienced the transformation of emphasis from the intensity of activity to the total amount of activity.Teenagers who take physical activity for the benefit of health should maintain the total amount of 60 minutes per day.Teenagers’ physical activity can be divided into three types,namely,aerobic exercise,muscle-building exercise and bone-invigorating exercise.3.Strategies of promoting teenagers’ physical activity have transformed from the transformation of individuals’ behavior to the social environment.Strategic fields that can most effectively raise teenager’s physical activity level mainly include school,community and family.4.The agenda setting of American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity is mainly "initiated externally",which derives from the pressure or suggestions the government’s external individuals,groups and organizations.The main body that participates in the formulation of American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity has formed the trend of the participation of multiple subjects and the interdisciplinary coordination among multiple departments.5.The main body involved in the development of physical activity policies for the youth in the United States has gradually changed from a government monopoly entity to a pluralistic entity dominated by the government and society.Within the government,it is not the responsibility of individual government departments.Instead,it forms the trend of multi-subject participation and multi-department cross-border collaboration.6.The organizational structure of policy implementation has experienced hierarchical---marketized---networked changes.The role that the government plays has also transformed from a dominator to a coordinator,server and supervisor.Social organization becomes the "main force" of policy implementation,and different relationship structures also exist between the government and social organizations,which can be divided into three types,namely,government-dominated,society-dominated and cooperation-dominated social organization.7.The evaluation of American policies regarding teenagers’ physical activity can be divided into result-oriented and process-oriented evaluation,and the methods of evaluation can be divided into internal and external evaluation.