Parental Influences and the Relationship to their Children’s Physical Activity Levels (original) (raw)
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Role of Parents in Determining Children's Physical Activity
World J Pediatr, 2007
Background: Parents' physical activity was reported to influence children's physical activity. We hypothesized that parents of 10-to 14-year-old children could influence their children's level of physical activity in ways other than providing logistical support.
Influence of parents' physical activity levels on activity levels of young children
The Journal of Pediatrics, 1991
To determine the relationship between activity levels of parents and those of their young children, we monitored physical activity with a mechanical device, the Caltrac accelerometer, in one hundred 4-to 7-year-old children and in 99 of their mothers and 92 of their fathers. During 1 year in the Framingham Children's Study, data were obtained for an average of more than 10 hours per day for 8.6 _+ t.8 days for the children, for 8.3 _ 2.1 days for their mothers, and for 7.7 _+ 2.3 days for their fathers. Children of active mothers (average Caltrac accelerometer counts per hour greater than the median) were 2.0 times as likely to be active as children of inactive mothers (95% confidence interval = 0.9, 4.5); the relative odds ratio of being active for the children of active fathers was 3.5 (95% confidence interval = 1.5, 8.3). When both parents were active, the children were 5.8 times as likely to be active (95% confidence interval = t.9, 17.4) as children of two inactive parents. Possible mechanisms for the relationship between parents' and child's activity levels include the parents' serving as role models, sharing of activities by family members, enhancement and support by active parents of their child's participation in physical activity, and genetically transmitted factors that predispose the child to increased levels of physical activity. (J PEDIATR 1991;118:215"9)
Change in parental influence on children's physical activity over time
Journal of physical activity & health, 2010
Parents are believed to play a pivotal role in their children's health-related behaviors, including physical activity (PA). It is currently unclear, however, at what developmental period parental socialization has the strongest influence on child and/or adolescent PA levels. The purpose of this study was to take a developmental approach to examine parental influence on children's PA levels over time. Parents (N = 70; 68 mothers) completed a questionnaire assessing PA habits, amount of time they engage in PA with their child, and reasons for their child's PA participation at baseline (during child's preschool years) and at follow-up, which occurred from 1 to 9 years later. The results indicate that the relationship between parents' and children's physical activity patterns and parents' reasons for their children's participation in organized physical activity change over time. Parents also reported spending approximately 60 min per week engaged in physi...
Parent-child interactions and objectively measured child physical activity: a cross-sectional study
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2010
Background: Parents influence their children's behaviors directly through specific parenting practices and indirectly through their parenting style. Some practices such as logistical and emotional support have been shown to be positively associated with child physical activity (PA) levels, while for others (e.g. monitoring) the relationship is not clear. The objectives of this study were to determine the relationship between parent's PA-related practices, general parenting style, and children's PA level. Methods: During the spring of 2007 a diverse group of 99 parent-child dyads (29% White, 49% Black, 22% Hispanic; 89% mothers) living in low-income rural areas of the US participated in a cross-sectional study. Using validated questionnaires, parents self-reported their parenting style (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved) and activity-related parenting practices. Height and weight were measured for each dyad and parents reported demographic information. Child PA was measured objectively through accelerometers and expressed as absolute counts and minutes engaged in intensity-specific activity. Results: Seventy-six children had valid accelerometer data. Children engaged in 113.4 ± 37.0 min. of moderatevigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. Children of permissive parents accumulated more minutes of MVPA than those of uninvolved parents (127.5 vs. 97.1, p < 0.05), while parents who provided above average levels of support had children who participated in more minutes of MVPA (114.2 vs. 98.3, p = 0.03). While controlling for known covariates, an uninvolved parenting style was the only parenting behavior associated with child physical activity. Parenting style moderated the association between two parenting practices -reinforcement and monitoring -and child physical activity. Specifically, post-hoc analyses revealed that for the permissive parenting style group, higher levels of parental reinforcement or monitoring were associated with higher levels of child physical activity. Conclusions: This work extends the current literature by demonstrating the potential moderating role of parenting style on the relationship between activity-related parenting practices and children's objectively measured physical activity, while controlling for known covariates. Future studies in this area are warranted and, if confirmed, may help to identify the mechanism by which parents influence their child's physical activity behavior.
Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2015
Background:Research on adolescent physical activity is mixed regarding the role of parent activity. This study tested parent encouragement, direct modeling, and perceived influence as moderators of objectively-measured (accelerometer) parent and child moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) associations.Methods:Parent-child dyads (n = 423; mean child age = 11.33 yrs.) wore accelerometers for 7 days; parents completed surveys. Hierarchical linear regression models tested moderation using a product of constituent terms interaction.Results:Parent-reported encouragement moderated the association between parent and child MVPA (β = –.15, P = .01, ΔR2 = .02, P < .01). Among parents with lower MVPA, child MVPA was higher for children receiving high encouragement (mean = 3.06, SE = .17) vs. low (mean = 3.03, SE = .15, P = .02) and moderate encouragement (mean = 3.40, SE = .09) vs. low (P = .04).Conclusions:Physical activity promotion programs may use parent encouragement as a tool t...
Differences in physical activity among children with physically active and inactive parents
2019
Parental physical activity is considered as positively related to children´s physical activity (PA; Sallis, Prochaska & Taylor, 2000). Since parents serve as role models, have the potential to influence the health-related behavior and, for instance, to alter a mainly sedentary lifestyle of their children (Beets, Cardinal & Alderman, 2010), the impact of parental PA has become a key issue in research. Many studies report associations between parental PA and the PA behavior of their children, e.g., the direct involvement of the parents in activities with their children is related to increased levels of their PA (Adkins, Sherwood, Story, & Davis, 2004; Beets, Vogel, Chapman, Pitetti, & Cardinal, 2007). However, the mechanisms of parental influence are still poorly understood and besides recent studies are based on self-reported data. Therefore, this study aims to examine if parental PA is related to the subjectively and objectively measured PA of their children. Methods: 237 Luxembourgish children and adolescents (134 girls and 103 boys) aged from 10-18 years participated in the study. Via a digital questionnaire, the children indicated if their mother and father are physically active on a regular basis and if they are active together with their parents. Furthermore, the children and adolescents indicated if they are active at least 60 minutes/ day and if they own a membership in a sports club (MoMo physical activity questionnaire). Additionally, children's PA behavior was
Evaluating a model of parental influence on youth physical activity
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2003
To test a conceptual model linking parental physical activity orientations, parental support for physical activity, and children's self-efficacy perceptions with physical activity participation.The sample consisted of 380 students in grades 7 through 12 (mean age, 14.0±1.6 years) and their parents. Data collection took place during the fall of 1996.Parents completed a questionnaire assessing their physical activity habits, enjoyment of physical activity, beliefs regarding the importance of physical activity, and supportive behaviors for their child's physical activity. Students completed a 46-item inventory assessing physical activity during the previous 7 days and a 5-item physical activity self-efficacy scale. The model was tested via observed variable path analysis using structural equation modeling techniques (AMOS 4.0).An initial model, in which parent physical activity orientations predicted child physical activity via parental support and child self-efficacy, did not provide an acceptable fit to the data. Inclusion of a direct path from parental support to child physical activity and deletion of a nonsignificant path from parental physical activity to child physical activity significantly improved model fit. Standardized path coefficients for the revised model ranged from 0.17 to 0.24, and all were significant at the p<0.0001 level.Parental support was an important correlate of youth physical activity, acting directly or indirectly through its influence on self-efficacy. Physical activity interventions targeted at youth should include and evaluate the efficacy of individual-level and community-level strategies to increase parents’ capacity to provide instrumental and motivational support for their children's physical activity.
Correlates of physical activity parenting: The Skilled Kids study
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2018
We examined the relationship between physical activity parenting (PAP) and child, family, and environmental factors in families. The participants were 840 families with young children (n = 993; 5.40 ± 1.14 years) and parents (n = 993; 35.8 ± 5.29 years). Parents' self‐reported PAP (co‐participation, (in)direct support, and encouragement), child‐specific (sex, age, temperament, outdoor time, organized physical activity or sports, sedentary time, media time, PA enjoyment, motor skills compared to peers, PA, and sport facility use), family‐specific (respondent's sex, age, education, exercise frequency, family income, family status, number of children in the family, child's birth order and partner's PAP, and exercise frequency), and environment‐specific (residential density, access to sport and outdoor facilities, type of house, and access to electronic devices) factors were collected. Children's motor skills and anthropometrics were measured. After adjusting for the...
Parenting and the decline of physical activity from age 9 to 15
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011
Background There is a rapid decline in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during middle childhood and adolescence. Information on the environmental factors implicated in this decline is limited. This study focuses on family factors associated with the rate of decline in objectively measured physical activity during middle childhood and adolescence. Methods Longitudinal analysis of 801 participants from 10 US sites in the NICHD
Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
Revista Electrónica Educare , 2019
Currently, there is little research on mothers’ perceptions of the social support they provide for their children to be physically active, which could yield important information in the construction of interventions that promote active lifestyles in childhood. We conducted individual interviews and three focus groups with 15 mothers of children 6 to 8 years old. The data were thematically analyzed using a qualitative approach, applying Ecological Model constructs to guide coding and categorization of results and the discussion of these results. The majority of mothers acknowledged that their sons and daughters were relatively less active and indicated that they perceived a need for increased physical activity among their children. The use of social support strategies was minimal, limited to accompanying their children. Mothers reported environmental factors such as cost, time constraints, lack of extracurricular-community activities and unsafe environments as the main barriers to their children’s physical activity. This study generated three main categories of results: the information gathered following the ecological model as a framework for analysis generated suggests that mothers are not aware of lack of physical activity of their children; mothers do not know ways to use social support for active lifestyles in their children, and recognize barriers to increase children’s physical activity. These research findings may contribute to health promotion strategies and programs that educate parents on how to effectively support their child in developing an active style of life.