LAUSR

Transl Pediatr 2020;9(1):1-3 | http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tp.2020.01.02 Having in mind several changes on modes of life through the years, including lifestyle, advances on medicine and technology, chronic diseases became the greatest cause of death worldwide (1). Even the majority of chronic diseases occurring during adulthood, several morbidities have its onset during adolescence, as mental disorders (2) and metabolic diseases (3). In this sense, prevention strategies for the development of chronic diseases are warranted since the first years of life as childhood and adolescence. Among protective factors for these diseases, the adoption and maintenance of an active lifestyle has been highlighted as one of the main preventable causes of death worldwide, with substantial earns in life expectancy when avoided (4-7). In this perspective, the World Health Organization created the “Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030” (8), with several goals and proposing actions through the years. However, the current challenge is how to effectively promote active lifestyle in different population sub-groups, especially during the first two decades of life. It seems clear that “one size fits most” strategies are ineffective since those determinants of active behaviors tend to vary greatly into the population. Thus, ecological models for physical activity promotion has been suggested (9). In this sense, during the first years of life, individual, interpersonal and environment factors seem the greatest determinants of physical activity, while with the advance of age through adulthood, other aspects as regional and national policies as well as global factors earn importance as determinants (9). During the adolescence, the process of biological maturation affects several aspects of life, such as all human body tissues and cognition (10). Thus, biological maturation is associated with metabolic risk factors (11,12), mental health (13) as well as behaviors such as physical activity, being that adolescents with early biological maturation exbibit the highest risk. The association between biological maturation and physical activity is especially through a biocultural pathways, including biological mediators as adiposity, physical fitness and motor competence as well as psychological factors as psychological distress, self-efficacy and self-esteem (14,15). However, given most evidences come from crosssectional studies, it is difficult to establish clear temporality between these events . For example, lower motor competence is a risk factor for physical inactivity, especially because people with lower motor competence often present a lower self-efficacy and, hence, tend to reduce the opportunities of participation in physical activities (16). On the other hand, inactive youth tend to experience less motor challenges during their childhood, leading to lower motor competence. Also, although physical inactivity contributes to early onset of puberty, especially through the body fat pathway, early maturing adolescents tend to be less active considering general indicators of physical activity (17). Helping to shed light on this issue, a recent article Editorial