Abstract
BackgroundAlthough it is accepted that parents play a key role in forming children’s health behaviours, differences in parent-child physical activity (PA) have not previously been analysed simultaneously in random samples of families with non-overweight and overweight to obese preschool and school-aged children. This study answers the question which of the health-related parental indicators (daily step count (SC), screen time (ST), and weight status and participation in organized leisure-time PA) help their children achieve the step count recommendations.MethodsA nationally representative sample comprising 834 families including 1564 parent-child dyads who wore the Yamax Digiwalker SW-200 pedometer for at least 8 h a day on at least four weekdays and both weekend days and completed a family log book (anthropometric parameters, SC, and ST). Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate whether parental achievement of the daily SC recommendation (10,000 SC/day), non-excessive ST (< 2 h/day), weight status, and active participation in organized PA were associated with children’s achievement of their daily SC (11,500 SC/day for pre-schoolers and 13,000/11,000 SC/day for school-aged boys/girls).ResultsWhile living in a family with non-overweight parents helps children achieve the daily SC recommendation (mothers in the model: OR = 3.50, 95% CI = 2.29–5.34, p < 0.001; fathers in the model: OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.37–4.26, p < 0.01) regardless of their age category, gender, or ST, for families with overweight/obese children, only the mother’s achievement of the SC recommendations and non-excessive ST significantly (p < 0.05) increase the odds of their children reaching the daily SC recommendation. The active participation of children in organized leisure-time PA increases the odds of all children achieving the daily SC recommendations (OR = 1.80–2.85); however, for overweight/obese children this remains non-significant. The participation of parents in organized leisure-time PA does not have a significant relationship to the odds of their overweight/obese or non-overweight children achieving the daily SC recommendations.ConclusionsThe mother’s health-related behaviours (PA and ST) significantly affect the level of PA of overweight/obese preschool and school-aged children. PA enhancement programmes for overweight/obese children cannot rely solely on the active participation of children in organized leisure-time PA; they also need to take other family-based PA, especially at weekends, into account.
Highlights
It is accepted that parents play a key role in forming children’s health behaviours, differences in parent-child physical activity (PA) have not previously been analysed simultaneously in random samples of families with non-overweight and overweight to obese preschool and school-aged children
Among the children (420 girls and 414 boys), the prevalence of overweight was observed in 13.6% (7.6% were classified as obese) of the girls and 14.0% (10.9% were classified as obese) of the boys
Of the 185 preschoolers, the incidence of overweight was detected in 7.6% of them, while among the school-aged children the representation of overweight amounted to 15.6% out of the total number of 649 school-aged children (Table 1)
Summary
It is accepted that parents play a key role in forming children’s health behaviours, differences in parent-child physical activity (PA) have not previously been analysed simultaneously in random samples of families with non-overweight and overweight to obese preschool and school-aged children. The parent-child physical activity (PA) or screen time relationship has been studied in a wide range of social [6], psychological [7, 8], educational, and health-related disciplines [9, 10], with an emphasis on healthy child development [6,7,8,9,10]. A focus on parent-child dyad analysis in preschool and preadolescent children is key to understanding the factors that are essential for shaping the active lifestyle of children, which persists until adulthood [11, 12]. The risk of the transmission of obesity from childhood to adulthood seems to be stronger when a child has one obese parent than in obese children without obese parents [16]
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