Physical Fitness and Health in Adolescents

Dear Colleagues,

Adolescence represents a crucial stage in human development, marked by rapid physical, emotional, and social changes. In this context, physical fitness emerges not only as a key indicator of current health status, but also as a powerful predictor of future health outcomes. The alarming increase in sedentary lifestyles, obesity rates, and mental health disorders among adolescents underscores the urgent need to examine and promote physical fitness from a comprehensive, evidence-based perspective.

This Special Issue of Children seeks to bring together cutting-edge research focused on physical fitness and its interrelation with adolescent health. Contributions from diverse disciplines, such as kinesiology, sports science, public health, psychology, and pedagogy, will be welcomed. This Special Issue aims to explore the different components of physical fitness—including cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, body composition—and their associations with physical, mental, and social well-being.

Key topics will include the development of reliable assessment tools, longitudinal studies that track fitness changes and their health implications, and interventions designed to improve fitness levels in various settings (schools, communities, clinical environments). Special attention will be given to socio-environmental factors that facilitate or hinder active lifestyles, as well as to gender and socioeconomic disparities in access to physical activity opportunities.

We also encourage submissions that examine innovative approaches to promoting adolescent fitness, such as the use of digital technologies, school-based physical education reforms, and community health initiatives. Furthermore, papers investigating the bidirectional relationships between fitness and psychological variables, such as motivation, self-esteem, and resilience, will be highly valued.

We invite researchers, educators, clinicians, and policymakers to contribute papers to this Special Issue that will lead to a healthier and more active youth.

Dr. María Mendoza Muñoz
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.