Body Mass Index And Activity Level Of Parents And Children

Abstract

Using questionnaire measures of physical activity, researchers have shown that child activity level is positively related to parental activity level. The nature of this relationship is unknown when activity level is assessed more objectively using activity monitors. PURPOSE The purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between parental physical activity and child physical activity using output from an NL-2000 activity monitor and to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and activity level. METHODS Data were collected on 30 sets of parents and their elementary school age children. Height and weight were recorded to determine BMI. Each parent and child wore an NL-2000 activity monitor for a 7-day period and average step count was determined. RESULTS There was no significant overall relationship between parental (mother or father) and child activity levels. A negative correlation was found between daughter's physical activity and mother's physical activity (r = −.71, p <.05). Furthermore, no significant relationship between BMI and activity level was found for children. For mothers, there was a negative correlation between activity level and BMI (r = −.48, p <.05). CONCLUSION When monitoring activity using an NL-2000 activity monitor, daughter's activity level increased as mother's activity level decreased. This may reflect a mother's commitment to taking her daughter to activities and, in turn, decreasing her own time for activity. Those mothers who were more active did have lower BMI values, supporting an expected health outcome of movement. More research involving accelerometers is needed to further explore the relationship between BMI and activity in children and the relationship between activity levels of parents and children of both sexes.