Associations between children's social functioning and physical activity participation are not mediated by social acceptance: a cross-sectional study

Sebire, Jago Russell, Fox, Page, Brockman Rowan, Thompson

Description

Physical activity (PA) during childhood often occurs in social contexts. As such, children's ability to develop and maintain friendship groups may be important in understanding their PA. This paper investigates the associations among children's social functioning, and physical activity and whether perceptions of social acceptance mediate any social functioning-PA association. Methods A cross sectional survey in which 652 10-11 year olds self-reported their peer (e.g. difficulties with friends) and conduct (e.g. anger/aggression) problems, prosocial behaviours (e.g. being kind to others) and perceptions of social acceptance. Physical activity was objectively assessed by Actigraph GT1M accelerometers to estimate counts per minute, (CPM) and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations between social functioning and PA. Indirect effects were analysed to explore mediation by social acceptance. Results Among boys, peer problems were negatively associated with CPM and MVPA and conduct problems were positively associated with CPM and MVPA. Prosocial behaviour was unrelated to PA in boys. Social functioning was not associated with PA among girls. Social acceptance did not mediate the social functioning-PA relationship. Conclusions Boys' conduct and peer problems were associated positively and negatively respectively with their PA but this relationship was not mediated by perceptions of social acceptance. Future research should study alternative mediators to understand the processes underpinning this relationship.

Sujets

• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
• Accelerometer

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sebireet al.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity2011,8:106 http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/8/1/106

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Associations between children’s social functioning and physical activity participation are not mediated by social acceptance: a crosssectional study * Simon J Sebire , Russell Jago, Kenneth R Fox, Angie S Page, Rowan Brockman and Janice L Thompson

Abstract Background:Physical activity (PA) during childhood often occurs in social contexts. As such, children’s ability to develop and maintain friendship groups may be important in understanding their PA. This paper investigates the associations among children’s social functioning, and physical activity and whether perceptions of social acceptance mediate any social functioningPA association. Methods:A cross sectional survey in which 652 1011 year olds selfreported their peer (e.g. difficulties with friends) and conduct (e.g. anger/aggression) problems, prosocial behaviours (e.g. being kind to others) and perceptions of social acceptance. Physical activity was objectively assessed by Actigraph GT1M accelerometers to estimate counts per minute, (CPM) and minutes of moderatetovigorous physical activity (MVPA). Linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations between social functioning and PA. Indirect effects were analysed to explore mediation by social acceptance. Results:Among boys, peer problems were negatively associated with CPM and MVPA and conduct problems were positively associated with CPM and MVPA. Prosocial behaviour was unrelated to PA in boys. Social functioning was not associated with PA among girls. Social acceptance did not mediate the social functioningPA relationship. Conclusions:Boys’conduct and peer problems were associated positively and negatively respectively with their PA but this relationship was not mediated by perceptions of social acceptance. Future research should study alternative mediators to understand the processes underpinning this relationship. Keywords:Social functioning, social acceptance, physical activity, accelerometer

Background Physical activity (PA) is associated with improved men tal wellbeing, lower levels of obesity and a reduced pre valence of cardiometabolic risk factors among children [1,2]. Many children in Western countries such as the UK and USA do not engage in sufficient amounts of PA to meet public health guidelines [3] and PA declines during childhood. As such, understanding the factors associated with children’s PA behaviour, particularly before they make the transition to secondary school is a public health priority [4].

* Correspondence: [e-mail] Centre for Exercise Nutrition and Health Sciences, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TZ, United Kingdom

Most forms of PA during childhood such as play, and informal and organised sport/exercise [57] occur within a social context, with friends and friendship groups. For example, children play active games with their friends, take part in team sports/games both for mally and informally in and out of school and just hang out with friends which may offer opportunities to be active (such as walking around town, going out on bikes). Accordingly, understanding factors supporting children’s ability to develop and maintain friendship groups, such as their effective functioning in social contexts and perceptions of acceptance amongst their peers may advance our understanding of their PA participation.

© 2011 Sebire 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.