Comparison of Family and Friend Support on Physical Activity in Adolescents

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PURPOSE: To examine gender and grade level (middle vs. high school) differences in qualitatively-measured family and friend support for objectively-measured physical activity (PA). METHODS: 55 middle school students (51% female, 13.08 years of age) and 53 high school students (64% female, 16.04 years of age) wore an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer (to assess PA), and participated in focus groups examining social influences on PA behavior. ANOVA with Tukey post hoc tests were conducted to examine moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level between middle and high school males and females. Focus group data were coded and analyzed using NVIVO version 10.0. RESULTS: High school males had a greater level of MVPA than high school females (55.61 vs. 37.59 min/day, respectively, p=0.01), though no difference existed between middle school males and females (50.01 vs. 45.42 min/day, respectively, p=0.42). All participants reported that friends positively influenced their PA though co-participation in activities, verbal encouragement, and modeling. Both middle and high school females reported that mothers and fathers influenced their activity, however, fathers alone were the primary source of family influence for males. Male and female middle school participants reported that parents and siblings positively influenced their PA levels through verbal encouragement, support of PA (driving participants to practices, purchasing sports equipment), modeling, and co-participation. High school females reported that parents positively influenced PA primarily through modeling, and co-participation (bonding time), however, parents also had a negative influence through criticism and forced participation of PA. High school males reported parents had little influence on PA levels mainly because parents were inactive themselves, and participants spent the majority of their time with friends. CONCLUSIONS: Family and friend support for PA differs by school level and gender. Interventions should focus on maintaining or increasing positive friend and family influences with special attention to decreasing negative parental influences for high school females.