Doing exercise or sport together with one’s child is positively associated with mothers’ momentary affect in daily life, but not with higher levels of overall physical activity

Abstract

Background: Physical inactivity is a widespread problem with a great need for innovative intervention concepts to overcome it. Epidemiological studies have identified working women in high-income Western countries to be at greater risk for physical inactivity. The current study included working mothers and examined within-subject associations between doing exercise/sport together with one's child and five different affective states, and with light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Method: During 1 week, mothers (N = 192) completed up to eight ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys a day to assess momentary affect and certain situational circumstances (e.g., doing exercise/sport, being together with child). Physical activity was assessed objectively with waist-worn accelerometers. Results: Multilevel analysis showed that doing exercise/sport together with one's child was associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect compared to being active alone. However, greater frequency of doing exercise/sport together with children was negatively associated with MVPA. Conclusion: Due to the positive effect on momentary affect, combining spending time together with one's child and simultaneously doing exercise/sport might be a good strategy of pairing two relevant personal goals. However, this strategy was not associated with sufficient MVPA.

Household chaos, maternal stress, and maternal health behaviors in the United States during the COVID-19 outbreak

“…Still, programs should be pragmatic so participation does not add to the mother’s current stress. 26 Potential options to reduce mother’s stress and promote healthy behaviors may include participating in physical activity with their child, 27 mindfulness programs, 28 and proper sleep hygiene for themselves. 29 …”

“…Still, programs should be pragmatic so participation does not add to the mother's current stress. 26 Potential options to reduce mother's stress and promote healthy behaviors may include participating in physical activity with their child, 27 mindfulness programs, 28 and proper sleep hygiene for themselves. 29 Individual and household level factors were related to household chaos, including concerns about a virus diagnosis in their household and coping with occupational changes.…”

How family structure influences middle-school students’ involvement in physical exercise and their academic achievement in China

“…The present study shows no statistically significant difference in PE existed between students from single-father families vs. conventional nuclear families after controlling for PI, demonstrating that insufficient PI can explain the difference in PE among students from these family types. Previous research has focused on mothers in singleparent families (Kanning et al, 2020;Duriancik and Goff, 2019), but our results lead us to speculate that single fathers' double duties leave them insufficient time and energy to interact with their children, and particularly to participate with them in PE. Ultimately, children in single-father families are less involved in PE than those in conventional nuclear families (Langøy et al, 2019;Wang and Qi, 2016).…”

The Mediating Effect of Coping Style on Physical Activity and Negative Affect Caused by Public Health Emergencies: Evidence from Chinese College Students

“…There have also been studies on different populations, for instance, pregnant women and mothers [47,48], nurses [49], patients [50][51][52][53][54], and people with overweight/obesity [55,56]. Some scholars have also emphasized the benefits of family members exercising together, such as father-daughter [57,58] and mother-child [59]. The overwhelming majority of studies support that PA can reduce negative affect and promote mental health.…”