Changing association of Australian parents’ physical activity and their children's sport participation: 1985–2004

Abstract

Introduction: The socio-ecological milieu of children's physical activity is changing over time, perhaps causing perturbations within the causal “web” that explains physical activity behaviours. This may partly explain the equivocal literature in this area. While parental role modelling has gained acceptance as a correlate of children's physical activity, it is unclear if its relative importance is changing. Accordingly, this study examined associations of parent physical activity and children's sport participation in 1985 and 2004.