BackgroundParents can influence the health behaviors of their children by engaging in supportive behaviors (e.g., playing outside with their child, limiting recreational screen time). How, and the extent to which parents engage in supportive behaviors may be influenced by perceived barriers. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the frequency, and types, of barriers to providing parental support are dependent on the type of child health behavior being supported (i.e., physical activity, recreational screen time reduction, healthy eating, and sleep).MethodsStudy participants were 1140 Ontario parents with at least one child under the age of 18 who completed a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey about parental support behaviors. Open-ended responses about perceived barriers to parental support were coded, and aggregated to meta-categories adopted from the social-ecological model (i.e., individual child, individual parent, interpersonal, environmental). Freidman rank sum tests were used to assess differences across child behaviors. Wilcoxon rank sum tests with Bonferroni adjustments were used as a post hoc test for significant Freidman results.ResultsThere were more barriers reported for supporting physical activity than for any other child behavior (ps < .01, As ≥ .53). Parents reported more parent level and environmental level barriers to supporting child physical activity versus other behaviors (ps < .001, As ≥ .55), child level barriers were more frequently reported for supporting healthy eating and sleep (ps < .001, As ≥ .57), and interpersonal barriers were more frequently reported for supporting recreational screen time reduction (ps < .001, As ≥ .52). Overall, parents reported more child and parent level barriers versus interpersonal and environmental barriers to supporting child health.ConclusionsParents experience a variety of barriers to supporting their children’s health behaviors. Differences in types of barriers across child health behaviors emerged; however, some frequently reported barriers (e.g., child preferences) were common across behaviors. Interventions promoting parental support should consider strategies that can accommodate parents’ busy schedules, and relate to activities that children find enjoyable. Creating supportive environments that help facilitate support behaviors, while minimizing parent level barriers, may be of particular benefit. Future research should explore the impact of barriers on parental support behaviors, and effective strategies for overcoming common barriers.

Social marketing researchers have identified brand equity as a potential mediator of the relationship between campaign message exposure and resulting behavior. This study examined whether message exposure and components of brand equity contribute to overall brand equity changes over the course of a 12-month campaign evaluation. In addition, we examine whether brand equity consistently accounts for covariance (i.e., mediation) in the relationship between message exposure and parental support (PS). Data were drawn from ParticipACTION's ''Think Again'' campaign evaluations that targeted parents, specifically moms, with children between the ages of 5 and 11 years (three independent samples: March 2011, N ¼ 702 [T1]; September 2011, N ¼ 706 [T2]; March 2012, N ¼ 670 [T3]). Univariate analyses of variance were used to examine changes in message exposure and components of brand equity over time, while structural equation modeling was used to examine the brand equity model relationship. Findings revealed that message exposure was greatest at T3 (ps < .01) and that brand equity was greatest at T2 (ps < .05). Model fit statistics revealed modest to good fit. Results demonstrated that Think Again message exposure was related to brand equity (standardized effects .10-.28) and that brand equity was related to PS (standardized effects .30-.40; (ps < .01). Importantly, an indirect effect of message exposure on PS through brand equity Downloaded from (standardized effects .03-.09) emerged in all models (ps < .05). This study demonstrates the utility of branding social marketing campaigns to increase campaign effectiveness.

Parent support for physical activity (PA) is a behavior unto itself that requires motivation. Persuasive messages may be one method for motivating parent support for their children's PA. Message framing is one strategy for optimizing the impact of messages. The current study examined the relative effectiveness of gain- versus loss-framed messages for encouraging parent support for children's PA. Regardless of message frame, parents had an increase in social cognitive antecedents (e.g. perceived behavioral control, intentions) and support for children's PA following message exposure.

Sports and recreation facilities provide places where children can be physically active. Previous research has shown that availability is often worse in lower-socioeconomic status (SES) areas, yet others have found inverse relationships, no relationships, or mixed findings. Since children’s health behaviours are influenced by their parents, it is important to understand parents’ perceived barriers to accessing sports and recreation facilities. Data from computer assisted telephone interviews with parents living in Ontario, Canada were merged via postal codes with neighbourhood deprivation data. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to estimate the likelihood that parents reported barriers to accessing local sports and recreation facilities. Parents with lower household incomes were more likely to report barriers to access. For each unit increase in deprivation score (i.e., more deprived), the likelihood of reporting a barrier increased 16% (95% CI: 1.04, 1.28). For parents, the relationships between household income, neighbourhood-level deprivation, and barriers are complex. Understanding these relationships is important for research, policy and planning, as parental barriers to opportunities for physical activity have implications for child health behaviours, and ultimately childhood overweight and obesity.

Introduction ParticipACTION's 2011 "Think Again" campaign aimed to draw parents', and specifically mothers', attention to the amount of physical activity (PA) their children do relative to the national guidelines (physical activity guidelines [PAG]). Purpose To evaluate ParticipACTION's "Think Again" campaign in the context of the hierarchy of effects model. Methods Data were drawn from "Think Again" campaign evaluations conducted among two cohorts of parents with children ages 5 to 11 years (3 months postcampaign launch [T1], n = 702; 15 months postlaunch [T2], n = 670). Results At T2, campaign awareness was weakly associated with parents agreeing that their children were not active enough (p = .01, d = .18). Parents who were aware of the campaign showed greater knowledge of PAG (ps < .01, ϕs > .14), had higher outcome expectations about their children engaging in PA (p < .01, d = .16), had stronger intentions to help their child meet the guidelines (p < .01, d = .18), and engaged in more parental support behaviors (p < .001, d = .31) as compared with parents who were not aware. At T1, parents aware of the campaign had greater perceived behavioral control (PBC) to influence their child's PA participation (p < .01, d = .22), whereas parents not aware of the campaign had greater PBC to find practical ways to help their child be active (p < .01, d = .26). Parental awareness of the campaign was not associated with children meeting the PAG at either time point (ps > .05). Conclusions The campaign appeared marginally effective for increasing parental knowledge of PAG and for creating realistic awareness of children's PA levels. Additional intervention strategies are needed to produce larger effects and to change parental behavior.