Abstract
BackgroundSport participation makes an important contribution to children’s overall physical activity. Understanding influences on sports participation is important and the family environment is considered key, however few studies have explored the mechanisms by which the family environment influences children’s sport participation. The purpose of this study was to examine whether attitude, perceived behavioural control, health belief and enjoyment mediate associations between the family environment and 10–12 year-old children’s sports participation.MethodsChildren aged 10–12 years ( = 7234) and one of their parents (n = 6002) were recruited from 175 schools in seven European countries in 2010. Children self-reported their weekly duration of sports participation, physical activity equipment items at home and the four potential mediator variables. Parents responded to items on financial, logistic and emotional support, reinforcement, modelling and co-participation in physical activity. Cross-sectional single and multiple mediation analyses were performed for 4952 children with complete data using multi-level regression analyses.ResultsAvailability of equipment (OR = 1.16), financial (OR = 1.53), logistic (OR = 1.47) and emotional (OR = 1.51) support, and parental modelling (OR = 1.07) were positively associated with participation in ≥ 30mins/wk of sport. Attitude, beliefs, perceived behavioural control and enjoyment mediated and explained between 21-34% of these associations. Perceived behavioural control contributed the most to the mediated effect for each aspect of the family environment.ConclusionsBoth direct (unmediated) and indirect (mediated) associations were found between most family environment variables and children’s sports participation. Thus, family-based physical activity interventions that focus on enhancing the family environment to support children’s sport participation are warranted.
Highlights
Introduction to Statistical Mediation AnalysisNew York: Lawrence & Erlbaum Associates; 2008.36
This paper aims to identify direct and indirect associations between aspects of the family environment and 10–12 year-old children’s weekly participation in sport
Most family environment variables and mediators were more positive among boys than girls (Table 1)
Summary
Introduction to Statistical Mediation AnalysisNew York: Lawrence & Erlbaum Associates; 2008.36. The purpose of this study was to examine whether attitude, perceived behavioural control, health belief and enjoyment mediate associations between the family environment and 10–12 year-old children’s sports participation. The Environmental Research framework for weight Gain prevention (EnRG) [22] suggests that the family environment may have direct and indirect effects on energy-balance behaviours such as physical activity. Like self-efficacy, refers to one’s belief that he/she is capable of performing a given behaviour [23], which may be developed through vicarious learning and persuasion [26] This perception, in turn, may improve motivation and help individuals to initiate and maintain behaviour, and determine how much effort the person will make [23,26]. Understanding mechanisms by which the family environment is associated with children’s physical activity is important for furthering theoretical frameworks and developing effective interventions
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