Weekday-weekend patterns of physical activity and screen time in parents and their pre-schoolers

Abstract

BackgroundThis study focuses on the comparison of weekday/weekend parent-child behavioural patterns (step count (SC) and screen time (ST)) and answers the question of whether achieving the recommendations for daily SC (10,000) in parents also helps their preschool children achieve the recommended daily SC (11,500).MethodsThe participants (278 parents aged 30–45 and their 194 children aged 4–7) were randomly recruited from 10 Czech public kindergartens. The participants recorded SC (pedometer Yamax Digiwalker SW-200) and ST duration (proxy-report) for seven consecutive days (≥8 h/day) during September–October 2014 and April–May 2015. Differences between weekdays/weekends SC or ST were tested using a paired t-test. The odds of achieving the recommended daily SC for children were estimated using general logistic regression separately for weekdays and weekends.ResultsOnly the mothers were found to have a significantly lower SC at weekends than on weekdays. All of the participants showed significantly more ST at weekends than on weekdays (daughters: 78.6 vs. 45.7 min/day, p < 0.001; sons: 78.8 vs. 55.8 min/day; mothers: 93.0 vs. 68.3 min/day; and fathers: 116.6 vs. 87.5 min/day). Daughters and sons were significantly more likely to achieve daily SC recommendation if a) the SC on weekdays during the daily routine in kindergarten exceeded the median of kindergarten SC or b) at weekends if their mother (OR: 9.67, 95 % CI: 3.57–26.23) exceeded 10,000 steps a day.ConclusionsEspecially at weekends, preschoolers have higher odds of meeting the recommended 11,500 steps per day when their mother reaches 10,000 steps per day and this is independent of the amount of parents’ ST. Moreover, physical activity in kindergarten helps preschool children meet the 11,500 recommended steps per day on weekdays. Therefore, interventions to promote physical activity in preschoolers should focus on kindergartens and encourage involvement of their families.

Child and parental physical activity: Is there an association with young children activity?

“…Regarding potential gender differences in parents' week PA patterns, in a previous study mothers were found to be more active on weekdays than at the weekend, while in fathers' activity no significant differences were revealed between weekdays and weekend (18). However, in the present study, fathers and mothers showed similar ambulatory activity, accumulating significantly more steps on weekdays than at the weekend, a finding that is confirmed by several previous studies (19,20).…”

“…Pedometers were placed on the right hip of participants, who wore them for a typical week (7 consecutive days) of spring, all day long, except the hours of sleep, the bath time and activities in the water. This week started one day after the meeting with the parents; the pedometer data of the meeting day were not included in statistical analyses to deal with potential reactivity (18,19). For each day step counts, pedometer records lower than 1,000 or higher than 30,000 steps were considered as outliers and were not taken into account.…”

“…To our knowledge, there is only one study focusing on preschool age (18), a second one using data of 9-12 years old children (19), and a third one with a sample of a wider age range (20). Those studies have revealed that children's PA is associated with that of their parents (18)(19)(20).…”

“…Active parents appear to be more supportive of their young children's PA (11), especially at weekends, when family members share their free time, children of more active parents present higher PA levels than their peers of less active parents (18,19). The aforesaid studies provide evidence on the importance of the role of parents' PA to the enhancement of children's PA, however, this evidence is limited.…”

Parent-child behavioural patterns related to pre-schoolers' overweight/obesity

“…Both the children and their parents were instructed to wear the pedometer throughout the whole day except when bathing, showering, dressing, and during personal hygiene. Every morning after their personal hygiene, the parents reset the pedometers, attached them to the right hip (of their children and their own) and recorded the time of resetting in the family log book (Sigmund, Badura, Vokacova, & Sigmundová, 2016;Sigmundová et al, 2016). In the evening, the parents removed the pedometers and, together with their children, recorded the time and daily step count (PA indicator) of all the participating family members in the log book.…”