Better together: Investigating the holistic benefits of father–daughter co-physical activity with mediation analyses

Abstract

Introduction: Observational evidence suggests that father–daughter co-physical activity may be associated with physical and psychological benefits for girls. However, this has not been explored in experimental research. Moreover, although fathers may influence their daughters’ physical activity, they often: (i) are less involved with their daughters than mothers and (ii) discount their role in fostering their daughters PA. Therefore, the current study examined data from the ‘Dads And Daughters Exercising and Empowered’ (DADEE) randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine whether improvements in father–daughter co-physical activity significantly mediated the intervention's positive effects on girls’ physical activity, social-emotional wellbeing, fundamental movement skill (FMS) competence and father–daughter relationship quality.