Abstract
Physical activity levels decline, and screen-viewing behaviours increase during childhood and adolescence. The transition to secondary school appears to coincide with a sharp decline in physical activity. Parents have the potential to influence their child’s behaviours, yet little is known about their expectations for their child’s physical activity and screen-viewing during this transition. This paper explores parents’ expectations for their children’s physical activity and screen-viewing as they transition from primary to secondary school, and their proposed strategies for managing these behaviours during this time. Forty-two parents of children aged 10–11 years participated in a semi-structured telephone interviews in July 2017 or March 2018. The interview data were analysed via inductive and deductive content analysis to explore parents’ perceptions of physical activity and screen-viewing during the transition, the reasons for their perceptions, and the strategies they intended to implement to help their child balance their behaviours. Most parents expected both physical activity and screen-viewing to increase during this transition. There were several individuals, social and school-level factors influencing these expectations. Overall, parents felt that helping their child balance their activity levels, screen-viewing and homework would be challenging.
Highlights
Physical activity is associated with improved physical, psychological and cognitive health outcomes in children and youth, including lower adiposity, lower cardiometabolic biomarkers, and improved well-being [1]
It is noticeable that, while light-intensity physical activity (LPA) continues to decline between the ages of 12–15, some evidence indicates that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is stable during these years [5], suggesting that a large proportion of the decline in MVPA occurs before the age of 12
Parents of highly active children engaged in more physical activity and had a lower BMI than parents of low active children
Summary
Physical activity is associated with improved physical, psychological and cognitive health outcomes in children and youth, including lower adiposity, lower cardiometabolic biomarkers, and improved well-being [1]. It is noticeable that, while light-intensity physical activity (LPA) continues to decline between the ages of 12–15, some evidence indicates that MVPA is stable during these years [5], suggesting that a large proportion of the decline in MVPA occurs before the age of 12. The decline in girls’ MVPA is greater than for boys, with evidence indicating it could be a much as double that of boys (e.g., the average decline in average MVPA of 46% and 23% for girls and boys, respectively) [4]. Sedentary time increases both in and out of school-time during childhood and adolescence [5]
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