Physical Activity Patterns and Parental Support for Physical Activity in Children

Abstract

PURPOSE: Research shows that child physical activity (PA) is positively associated with parental support, yet very little is known as to the driving force behind parental support. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parental physical activity and parental support for their child's PA. METHODS: Of 231 eligible participants, 108 completed a past-year questionnaire (72% female, 27% minority, 29.5±1.2 years old) assessing their PA (hrs/wk), and support for their child's PA. PA was measured when the parent was an adolescent (14.9±1.1 years) and then approximately 15 years later when the parent was a young adult (29.5±1.2 years). Parental support was assessed for both importance and encouragement of PA using a Likert-scale. Importance measures consisted of items such as "It is important that my child be active in several sports/physical activities," and "It is important that my child loves to play active sports," and encouragement items such as "I exercise or work out with my son or daughter," or "I spend time teaching my son or daughter how to play a sport or do a physical activity." The dependent variable was parental support, while the independent variable was parental PA. Spearman correlations, univariate and analyses of covariance were used to examine the associations between parental PA and support for child PA. RESULTS: Spearman correlations suggested that higher levels of PA during adolescence and young adulthood were positively associated with parental encouragement for child PA. After adjusting for appropriate covariates, individuals who maintained moderate levels of PA (31.4±1.2 hrs/wk) from adolescence to young adulthood offered higher encouragement (p<0.01) than those who maintained lower levels of PA (26.7±1.0 hrs/wk). Also, individuals who increased their PA (29.5±0.7 hrs/wk) across this time frame offered higher encouragement (p<0.05) than those who maintained low levels of PA (26.7±1.0 hrs/wk). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, adolescent and young adult PA appears to be positively associated with encouragement for child PA. These results present a mechanism for how physical activity may be transferred from parent to child. Supported by NICHD (HD35607), NCI (CA109895), and the University of Pittsburgh (ED05003).