Researchers Say Girls Thrive in Single-Sex Gym Classes

High school girls exhibit higher levels of vigorous activity if they participate in single-sex, nontraditional gym classes that include aerobics, dance, and other activities tailored to meet their interests, a new study concludes.

The findings from researchers at the University of South Carolina-Columbia are significant because of concerns about the progressive decline in physical activity among teenage girls as they mature and the increasing rates of obesity and diabetes among girls that age.

The study, “Promotion of Physical Activity Among High School Girls: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” is published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health .Researchers evaluated how an intervention and a control group of 2,744 high school girls in 24 South Carolina high schools differed in their daily...