Abstract
BackgroundParents could be important influences on child physical activity and parents are often encouraged to be more active with their child. This paper examined the association between parent and child physical activity and sedentary time in a UK cohort of children assessed when the children were in Year 1 (5–6 years old) and in Year 4 (8–9 years old).MethodsOne thousand two hundred twenty three children and parents provided data in Year 4 and of these 685 participated in Year 1. Children and parents wore an accelerometer for five days including a weekend. Mean minutes of sedentary time and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) were derived. Multiple imputation was used to impute all missing data and create complete datasets. Linear regression models examined whether parent MVPA and sedentary time at Year 4 and at Year 1 predicted child MVPA and sedentary time at Year 4. Change in parent MVPA and sedentary time was used to predict change in child MVPA and sedentary time between Year 1 and Year 4.ResultsImputed data showed that at Year 4, female parent sedentary time was associated with child sedentary time (0.13, 95% CI = 0.00 to 0.27 mins/day), with a similar association for male parents (0.15, 95% CI = −0.02 to 0.32 mins/day). Female parent and child MVPA at Year 4 were associated (0.16, 95% CI = 0.08 to 0.23 mins/day) with a smaller association for male parents (0.08, 95% CI = −0.01 to 0.17 mins/day). There was little evidence that either male or female parent MVPA at Year 1 predicted child MVPA at Year 4 with similar associations for sedentary time. There was little evidence that change in parent MVPA or sedentary time predicted change in child MVPA or sedentary time respectively.ConclusionsParents who were more physically active when their child was 8–9 years old had a child who was more active, but the magnitude of association was generally small. There was little evidence that parental activity from three years earlier predicted child activity at age 8–9, or that change in parent activity predicted change in child activity.
Highlights
Parents could be important influences on child physical activity and parents are often encouraged to be more active with their child
We examined the association between objectively-assessed moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time of Year 4 (8–9 year old) children and their parents
Each additional minute per day of female parents’ sedentary time at Year 4 was associated with around an 8 s increase in children’s sedentary time at Year 4, and each
Summary
Parents could be important influences on child physical activity and parents are often encouraged to be more active with their child. The UK Chief Medical Officers have recommended that all children and adolescents should engage in at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) per day and reduce sedentary time [2]. Large national surveys from the UK [3] and USA [4, 5] indicate that many children do not engage in the recommended hour per day of MVPA [2] and that both boys and girls become less active as they get older [6]. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicate that interventions to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary time among children and adolescents have demonstrated limited efficacy [7, 8]. The reviews conclude that there is still much to be learned about the origins of children’s physical activity, how it could be changed and that new, improved behavior change programs are needed
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