Active parents, active children: The importance of parental organized physical activity in children's extracurricular sport participation

Parental Perception of Barriers to Children's Participation in Sports: Biological, Social, and Geographic Correlates of Portuguese Children

Background: Identifying parental perceived barriers might contribute to strategies to promote physical activity in children. This study aimed to observe parental perceived barriers for 6- to 10-year-old children's participation in organized sports and understand to what extent the socioeconomic status, the place of residence, and children's sex, age, and sport participation affect those perceived barriers. Methods: Data were collected from 834 parents of 6- to 10-year-old children living in the Portuguese Midlands, using a multiple-choice questionnaire. Parents reported the perceived barriers to children's sport activities, such as time, health, transportation, costs, safety, facilities, weather, tiredness, and lack of interest. Children's and sociodemographic characteristics were also collected. Results: Time and costs were the most reported barriers by parents. Barriers to access were mostly reported by parents of girls and younger children, parents of inactive children, and families living in an urban setting and in socioeconomic disadvantage. Perceived barriers differed according to both children's and sociodemographic characteristics, highlighting the need to reduce costs and increase the variety of sports/facilities, particularly in families with girls, younger children, and those with lower incomes from more urbanized areas. Conclusions: The present findings should be considered in future planning and interventions to effectively promote physical activity in children.

Environmental and Socio-demographic Factors Associated with 6-10-Year-Old Children's School Travel in Urban and Non-urban Settings

Walking or bicycling to school is an important source of physical activity and may help prevent childhood obesity. However, active commuting has been declining in recent decades. The purposes of this study were to explore travel characteristics in children and examine factors associated with active commuting in children living in urban and non-urban setting. Participants were 834 parents and corresponding children aged 6-10 years, living in the district of Coimbra, Portugal. Data were collected during April-June of 2013 and 2014. Anthropometric measures (height, weight, waist circumference) were taken in children. Mode shift and child/family demographics were assessed by a parental questionnaire. School and home addresses were geocoded and the shortest route (meters) was taken in consideration. Although car is the most common way of travel to school, active transportation is significantly more prevalent in children living in the non-urban setting. Different determinants were found associated with active travel according to the level of urbanization. The adjusted logistic regression revealed that, independently of the urbanization, children whose mothers actively commute to work, whose parents reported their neighbor as safe to walk, and children living less than 2000 m from school were significantly more likely to walk to school. Present findings highlight the need to consider models with different levels, including individual, social, and environmental characteristics, when developing interventions and policies to promote active transport to school.