Abstract
Background. Healthy lifestyle skills instilled in childhood remain into adulthood. Parental physical activity skills are directly related to their children’s physical activity which strengthens their children’s physical fitness. The aim of the study was to determine and evaluate the relationship between parents’ and children’s physical activity and to evaluate the links between children’s physical activity and physical fitness.Methods. The study involved 486 primary school children aged 7 to 10 years (240 boys and 241 girls) and their parents from Kaunas district. The study was conducted in 2018 in Kaunas district schools. Parental physical activity was assessed using Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire-GLTEQ (Godin & Shephard, 1985). Physical activity of primary school children was assessed by submitting a questionnaire to parents developed by researchers Bacardi-Gascón, Reveles-Roy, Woodward-Lopez, Crawford, and Jiménez-Cruz (2012). Schoolchildren’s physical fitness was assessed by 9 physical fitness tests (Fjørtoft, Pedersen, Sigmundsson, & Vereijken, 2011).Results. Having assessed the physical activity of children according to WHO (2010) recommendations, we found that the vast majority of the surveyed children (93.6% of boys and 86.3 of girls) were physically active, i.e. they engaged in physical activity for more than 1 hour during the day. Comparing the schoolchildren’s physical fitness by gender we found that boys were more physically fit than girls when performing long jumps, two-legged jumps, throwing a tennis ball, and running for six minutes (p < .05). Comparing the results of schoolchildren’s physical fitness by grades (Table 3), we observed that the older children were, the more physically fit they were. Correlation analysis of the research results showed a statistically significant direct relationship between father’s and mother’s physical activity (r = .487, p = .0001). A significant relationship was found between the results of children’s physical activity and tennis ball throwing (r = .170, p = .018) and the results of 10 * 5m running tests (r = –.150, p = .019). Higher physical activity was directly associated with better scores on these tests.Conclusion. Schoolchildren’s and their parents’ physical activity has no relation with schoolchildren’s physical fitness.Keywords: healthy, lifestyle, physical activity, physical fitness.
Highlights
Physical fitness is a hallmark of children’s physical health (Mora-Gonzalez, 2019), which is one of the most important features in the child’s growth and development processes (Emeljanovas, Miežienė, Česnaitienė, Fjortoft, & Kjønniksen, 2020)
Having assessed the physical activity of children according to WHO (2010) recommendations, we found that the vast majority of the surveyed children (93.6% of boys and 86.3 of girls) were physically active, i.e. they engaged in physical activity for more than 1 hour during the day
Comparing the schoolchildren’s physical fitness by gender we found that boys were more physically fit than girls when performing long jumps, two-legged jumps, throwing a tennis ball, and running for six minutes (p < .05)
Summary
Physical fitness is a hallmark of children’s physical health (Mora-Gonzalez, 2019), which is one of the most important features in the child’s growth and development processes (Emeljanovas, Miežienė, Česnaitienė, Fjortoft, & Kjønniksen, 2020). Physical activity plays an important role in the healthy lifestyle of children (Jerina, Pišot, & Volmut, 2018). Recent research results show that physical fitness has a positive effect on children’s academic achievements in math, arts, science and social sciences. Canadian researchers claim that children’s physical fitness is associated with an active lifestyle (Longmuir et al, 2018). Researchers point out that parents’ physical activity skills are directly related to their children’s physical activity, and the most effective interventions to increase physical activity are in the family environment (Lakes et al, 2019). The aim of the study was to determine and evaluate the relationship between parents’ and children’s physical activity and to evaluate the links between children’s physical activity and physical fitness
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