Parent-child relationship of directly measured physical activity

Fuemmeler, Anderson, Mâsse

Description

Studies on parent-child correlations of physical activity have been mixed. Few studies have examined concurrent temporal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in parents and children using direct measures. The purpose of this study was to examine parent-child activity correlations by gender, day of week, and time of day, using accelerometers - a method for direct assessment of physical activity. Methods Accelerometers were used to assess physical activity and sedentary time in 45 fathers, 45 mothers and their children (23 boys, 22 girls, mean age 9.9 years) over the course of 4 days (Thursday - Sunday). Participants were instructed to wear accelerometers for 24 hours per day. Data from accelerometers were aggregated into waking hours on weekdays and weekends (6:00 am to midnight) and weekday after-school hours (3:00 - 7:00 pm). Results Across the 4 days, the mean minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for fathers was 30.0 (s.d. = 17.3), for mothers was 30.1 (s.d. = 20.1) and for children was 145.47 (s.d. = 51.64). Mothers' and fathers' minutes of MVPA and minutes of sedentary time were positively correlated with child physical activity and sedentary time (all ps < .05, with the exception of mothers' and children's sedentary time on weekdays from 6 am to 12 am). Multivariate linear regression analyses resulted in significant effects between parents and children for MVPA across all time segments. For sedentary activity, significant associations were observed only between father and child on the weekend. Sedentary activity of parents and children were not related for other time segments. Models examining the associations of one or two parents with high levels of MVPA or sedentary time indicated a dose response increase in child activity relative to parent. Conclusions Greater parental MVPA was associated with increased child MVPA. In addition, having two parents with higher levels of MVPA was associated with greater levels of activity in children. Sedentary time in children was not as strongly correlated with that of their parents. Findings lend support to the notion that to increase childhood activity levels it may be fruitful to improve physical activity among parents.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• Langue: English

Extrait

Fuemmeleret al.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity2011,8:17 http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/8/1/17

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Parentchild relationship of directly measured physical activity 1*†2†3† Bernard F Fuemmeler, Cheryl B Anderson, Louise C Mâsse

Abstract Background:Studies on parentchild correlations of physical activity have been mixed. Few studies have examined concurrent temporal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in parents and children using direct measures. The purpose of this study was to examine parentchild activity correlations by gender, day of week, and time of day, using accelerometers  a method for direct assessment of physical activity. Methods:Accelerometers were used to assess physical activity and sedentary time in 45 fathers, 45 mothers and their children (23 boys, 22 girls, mean age 9.9 years) over the course of 4 days (Thursday  Sunday). Participants were instructed to wear accelerometers for 24 hours per day. Data from accelerometers were aggregated into waking hours on weekdays and weekends (6:00 am to midnight) and weekday afterschool hours (3:00  7:00 pm). Results:Across the 4 days, the mean minutes per day of moderatetovigorous physical activity (MVPA) for fathers was 30.0 (s.d. = 17.3), for mothers was 30.1 (s.d. = 20.1) and for children was 145.47 (s.d. = 51.64). Mothers’and fathers’minutes of MVPA and minutes of sedentary time were positively correlated with child physical activity and sedentary time (all ps < .05, with the exception of mothers’and children’s sedentary time on weekdays from 6 am to 12 am). Multivariate linear regression analyses resulted in significant effects between parents and children for MVPA across all time segments. For sedentary activity, significant associations were observed only between father and child on the weekend. Sedentary activity of parents and children were not related for other time segments. Models examining the associations of one or two parents with high levels of MVPA or sedentary time indicated a dose response increase in child activity relative to parent. Conclusions:Greater parental MVPA was associated with increased child MVPA. In addition, having two parents with higher levels of MVPA was associated with greater levels of activity in children. Sedentary time in children was not as strongly correlated with that of their parents. Findings lend support to the notion that to increase childhood activity levels it may be fruitful to improve physical activity among parents.

Background The high rates of obesity among children in the U.S., and globally, are a significant public health concern [1,2]. Although the causes for obesity in society are mul tifactorial, minimal physical activity, high levels of sedentary time, and excess consumption of energy dense foods are lifestyle factors believed to be contributing to weight gain and risk of obesity in youth [3,4]. Reducing time spent in sedentary activity and increasing moderatetovigorous activity (MVPA) has numerous

* Correspondence: [e-mail] †Contributed equally 1 Duke University Medical Center, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Durham, NC, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article

benefits to children’s physical and psychological health, including being a promising strategy to prevent obesity in children. Yet, large percentages of children do not meet recommended and optimal levels of regular physi cal activity [5]. Parents may exert a great degree of influence on their children’s physical activity through genetic influ ence [6] and social learning [7,8]. Within the realm of social learning, parents can serve as role models, encourage their children, or may instrumentally sup port their children’s activity by taking them to events where they can be active [9,10]. The extent to which parents and their children have similar patterns of physical activity levels has been the subject of an increasing body of research because such information

© 2011 Fuemmeler et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.