Effect Of A Mother-daughter Dance Intervention On Pre-adolescent African-american Girls’ Physical Activity Level

Abstract

Maternal health behaviors have been shown to mediate children’s health behaviors. Thus, studies exploring interventions to enhance parent and child health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA), are critical. In the African-American culture, maternal figure are thought to be the primary influence on the health behavior of their daughters through late adolescence. Therefore, a joint PA intervention targeting daughters and their mothers could potentially improve African-American girls’ PA levels. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a 12-week mother-daughter afterschool culturally-tailored dance intervention on the PA levels of pre-adolescent African-American girls. METHODS: Seventy-three mother-daughter dyads [girls (n = 73, age = 8.3±1.3 yrs, BMI percentile = 68.2 ± 29.0); mothers (n = 71, age = 37.2±7.8 yrs, BMI = 31.9±7.2 kg/m2)] were randomly assigned to one of three groups [child-mother (CH-M, n = 26), child alone (CH, n = 24), or control (CON, n = 23] to participate in an afterschool culturally-tailored dance intervention (60 minutes/day, 3 days/week, 12 weeks). Girls in the CH-M group participated in the afterschool dance intervention with their maternal figure, while girls in the CH group participated in the intervention alone. The CON group received weekly newsletters for the duration of the study. PA was assessed with accelerometers for seven consecutive days at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine rates and patterns of change in PA over time. RESULTS: During the afterschool intervention time (3:30-6:30pm), girls in the CH-M group displayed a significantly steeper rate of increase in their percent time spent in vigorous PA compared to both the CH (γ = 0.80, p < 0.001) and the CON group (p < 0.001). For total daily PA, mothers in the CH-M group displayed a significantly steeper rate of increase in their percent of time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA compared to the CH group (γ = 0.07, p = 0.01). No significant changes were observed in daughters’ total daily PA. CONCLUSION: A culturally-tailored afterschool mother-daughter intervention can improve PA in African-American girls. However, to improve total daily PA, future research should also target the PA home environment. Supported by: NIH:NIDDK (K01 DK087812)