Research Brief

Parental Influences on Physical Activity Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Brief Review

Understanding the social and environmental factors that influence physical activity is important in the development of effective interventions to increase physical activity behavior in children and adolescents. One factor that has received considerable research attention is the influence of parenting practices and behaviors on child physical activity. This review evaluated 103 studies that examined the influence of parental physical activity, parental support for child physical activity, parenting style, and family cohesion on child and adolescent activity behavior. Results showed that parental support was consistently positively and significantly associated with child activity. With respect to the association between parent and child physical activity, there was little evidence of association. Although the evidence linking parenting style and family cohesion with child physical activity was nonsupportive, too few studies have examined these relationships to draw firm conclusions. Priorities for future research and implications for health care professionals are discussed.

Parental social support and the physical activity-related behaviors of youth: a review

Social support from parents serves as one of the primary influences of youth physical activity-related behaviors. A systematic review was conducted on the relationship of parental social support to the physical activity-related behaviors of youth. Four categories of social support were identified, falling under two distinct mechanisms-tangible and intangible. Tangible social support is divided into two categories: instrumental-purchasing equipment/payment of fees and transportation-and conditional-doing activity with and watching/supervision. Intangible social support is divided into the two categories of motivational- encouragement and praise-and informational-discussing benefits of. The majority of studies demonstrated positive associations among selected measures of parental tangible and intangible social support and youth activity. Overall, parental social support demonstrated positive effects. Many studies, however, combine social support categories and/or respondents into composite measures, making it difficult to disentangle the specific effects of parents and the type of support provided.

Association of Father Involvement and Neighborhood Quality with Kindergartners' Physical Activity: A Multilevel Structural Equation Model

Purpose.

Examine the effects of father-child involvement and neighborhood characteristics with young children's physical activity (PA) within a multilevel framework.

Design.

Cross-sectional analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort 1998.

Setting.

Nationally representative sample.

Subjects.

Data were available for 10,694 kindergartners (5–6 years; 5240 girls) living in 1053 neighborhoods.

Measures.

Parental report of child's PA level, father characteristics (e.g., time spent with child, age, education, socioeconomic status, hours worked), family time spent doing sports/activities together, and neighborhood quality (e.g., safety, presence of crime violence, garbage). Child weight status, motor skills, ethnicity, and television viewing were used as covariates.

Analysis.

Multilevel structural equation modeling with children nested within neighborhoods.

Results.

At the child level father-child time and family time doing sports together were positively associated with children's PA. At the neighborhood level parental perception of a neighborhood's safety for children to play outside fully mediated the effect of neighborhood quality on children's PA. Overall 19.1% and 7.6% of the variance in PA was explained at the child and neighborhood levels, respectively.

Conclusions.

Family-based interventions for PA should consider father-child time, with this contributing to a child's overall PA level. Further, neighborhood quality is an important predictor of PA only to the extent by which parents perceive it to be unsafe for their child to play outdoors.

Girls' perception of physical environmental factors and transportation: reliability and association with physical activity and active transport to school

BACKGROUND

Preliminary evidence suggests that the physical environment and transportation are associated with youth physical activity levels. Only a few studies have examined the association of physical environmental factors on walking and bicycling to school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to examine the test-retest reliability of a survey designed for youth to assess perceptions of physical environmental factors (e.g. safety, aesthetics, facilities near the home) and transportation, and (2) to describe the associations of these perceptions with both physical activity and active transport to school.

METHODS

Test and retest surveys, administered a median of 12 days later, were conducted with 480 sixth- and eighth-grade girls in or near six U.S. communities. The instrument consisted of 24 questions on safety and aesthetics of the perceived environment and transportation and related facilities. Additionally, girls were asked if they were aware of 14 different recreational facilities offering structured and unstructured activities, and if so, whether they would visit these facilities and the ease with which they could access them. Test-retest reliability was determined using kappa coefficients, overall and separately by grade. Associations with physical activity and active transport to school were examined using mixed model logistic regression (n = 610), adjusting for grade, race/ethnicity, and site.

RESULTS

Item-specific reliabilities for questions assessing perceived safety and aesthetics of the neighborhood ranged from 0.31 to 0.52. Reliabilities of items assessing awareness of and interest in going to the 14 recreational facilities ranged from 0.47 to 0.64. Reliabilities of items assessing transportation ranged from 0.34 to 0.58. Some items on girls' perceptions of perceived safety, aesthetics of the environment, facilities, and transportation were important correlates of physical activity and, in some cases, active transport to school.

CONCLUSION

This study provides some psychometric support for the use of the questionnaire on physical environmental factors and transportation for studying physical activity and active transport to school among adolescent girls. Further work can continue to improve reliability of these self-report items and examine their association of these factors with objectively measured physical activity.

Parental correlates of physical activity in children and early adolescents

This article is intended to unite the existing research on parental influences on children's physical activity behaviours in order to establish direction for future research and improve existing child physical activity intervention programmes. A comprehensive, 34-study review of parental correlates of child physical activity was conducted and six variables were examined. There were significant correlations found between parental support and child physical activity level. Results for an association between parental and child physical activity levels, however, were mixed. There were not enough studies to draw conclusions about single-parent families, family socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Finally, there were some weak inter- and intra-generational sex correlations, but these results were mostly inconclusive. Possible mechanisms, including parental support, modelling, shared activities, societal differences by generation, minority groups and genetics are discussed, and recommendations are made on translating experimental results into tangible intervention efforts essential for disease prevention through increased physical activity.

The effect of type of physical activity measure on the relationship between body fatness and habitual physical activity in children: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The relationship between activity levels and body fat in children is unclear, despite a large number of studies. The issue is clouded by the wide variety of methods used to assess children's activity levels. It is important to assess whether the type of activity measure influences the fatness-activity relationship. This is a first step to uncovering the role of modifying variables such as gender, age, maturity, etc.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

This study uses meta-analytic procedures to synthesize the results of such studies and to assess whether the type of activity measure used has an effect on the strength of the relationship observed.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Fifty studies were located that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Seventy-eight per cent of the studies showed a negative relationship, 18% no relationship and 4% a positive relationship between physical activity and body fatness. Data were analysed using the meta-analytic procedures described by Rosenthal (Meta-analytic Procedures for Social Research, Sage, 1991).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

The mean effect size indicated a small to moderate, inverse relationship (r = -0.16). Mean effect sizes differed significantly (F(3,52) = 8.04, p < 0.001) according to the activity measure used: questionnaire, r = -0.14; motion counters, r = -0.18; observation, r = -0.39; heart rate (HR), r = 0.00. Observation measures elicited a significantly stronger relationship with body fat than did questionnaire or heart rate measures (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the effect sizes elicited by observation and motion counters. Correlational analyses revealed no effect of age group or gender on the strength of the relationship between fatness and activity.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis suggests there is a small to moderate relationship between body fat and activity in children. It is important to note, however, that the size of the relationship depends on the activity measure used. It is therefore recommended that direct measures of movement, such as observation or motion counter methods, are used to assess the relationship of activity levels with health.