Parental Influence on Young Children's Physical Activity

Abstract

Parents influence on their young children's physical activity (PA) behaviours was examined in a sample of 102 preschool-aged children (54 boys). Questionnaires regarding family sociodemographics and physical activity habits were completed. Results showed that children who received greater parental support for activity (B = .78, P < .10) and had parents who rated PA as highly enjoyable (B = .69, P < .05) were significantly more likely to engage in one hour or more of daily PA. Being an older child (B = −.08, P < .01), having older parents (B = −.26, P < .01), and watching more than one hour of television/videos per day (B = 1.55, P < .01) reduced the likelihood that a child would be rated as highly active. Children who received greater parental support for PA were 6.3 times more likely to be highly active than inactive (B = 1.44, P < .05). Thus, parents can promote PA among their preschoolers, not only by limiting TV time but also by being highly supportive of their children's active pursuits.

Parental influence on children’s physical activity in urban green spaces

“…Children who received more parental support for PA, for instance, were found to be 6.3 times more likely to be highly active than inactive (Zecevic, et al, 2010). Similarly, according to Sigmund, et al (2008) study, children who participated in organized PA with their mothers significantly performed longer period of time for vigorous PA than those children who participated in organized PA without their mothers.…”

“…The questionnaire's three sections were inspired by several other PA studies (Sigmund, et al, 2008;Brockman, et al, 2009;Zecevic, et al, 2010). The first part of the questionnaire asked demographic and socio-economic status (SES) (e.g.…”

“…The first part of the questionnaire asked demographic and socio-economic status (SES) (e.g. gender, age, marital status, education level, occupation, and monthly household income) of parents as studies suggest parents' SES should be taken into account (Rey-Lopez, et al, 2008;Zecevic, et al, 2010). In the second part, parents were asked to report the walking distance from their home to the nearest UGS.…”

“…Previous studies show that parents who are generally the primary decision makers for their children's daily schedules may be an important means for encouraging children to be more PA (Sigmund, et al, 2008;Brockman, et al, 2009;Zecevic, et al, 2010). Children who received more parental support for PA, for instance, were found to be 6.3 times more likely to be highly active than inactive (Zecevic, et al, 2010).…”

“…Therefore, developing countries also need actively contributing to scientific research in order to help establish a global framework for the use of UGS (Kabisch, et al, 2015). In addition, previous studies focused on very specific age-ranges (Yao and Rhodes, 2015) and a few studies conducted with very young children (Zecevic, et al, 2010), which reduces our understanding if parents' physical co-activity and UGS affect all children. Therefore, we wanted to examine if physically more active parents bring up physically more active children as Sigmund, et al, (2008) suggested.…”