Exploring the effect of parental influence on children's physical activity: The mediating role of children's perceptions of parental support

Highlights

• Parent reported support for PA was positively related to child's perceptions.

• Child's perception of support in turn was significantly related to their PA.

• Parental support had a statistically significant indirect effect on children's PA.

• Parental PA was not significantly related to children's PA.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model linking parental support and parental physical activity (PA), with children's perception of parental support and children's PA. Baseline data were drawn from the Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass community-based PA intervention conducted in London, Ontario between May and October 2014. Parent and child PA were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children, respectively. Questions pertaining to parental support and children's perception of that parental support were obtained via questionnaires. We employed structural equation modeling techniques to test the conceptual model. In total, 467 boys and 469 girls were included in the study. The model provided an acceptable model fit. Child's perception of parental support for PA had a positive effect on boys' (b = 0.319) and girls' (b = 0.326) PA. Parental PA was not significantly related to child's perception of parental support for PA. However, parent reported support for PA had a significant, positive effect on child's perception of parental support for boys (b = 0.352) and girls (b = 0.584). In terms of the indirect effects, the effect of parental PA on child's PA was not statistically significant; however, as expected, parental support for PA had a statistically significant indirect effect on child PA level in both groups. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of children's perceptions of parental support in relation to their PA behaviours. Developing a better understanding of factors related to children's PA and identifying determinants and mediators of activity behaviours will help inform PA interventions.

Introduction

Routine participation in physical activity (PA) is essential for the maintenance of health and well-being throughout the lifespan. Despite well-known health benefits associated with being physically active (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010), many children, particularly girls, do not accumulate sufficient levels of activity to obtain such benefits (Sallis et al., 2000). A Canadian national survey estimated that only 9% of children and youth (5–17 years) met the recommended guideline of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day (Statistics Canada, 2015). Similar rates of inactivity have been found worldwide; with approximately 80% of adolescents (13–15 years) not meeting public health recommendations for PA (Hallal et al., 2012).

The determinants of PA are complex, as there are numerous factors at multiple levels (e.g., individual, interpersonal, environmental) that can affect the behaviours of children and youth (Biddle and Asare, 2011, Mitchell et al., 2016). Developing effective interventions and policies requires an examination of the interrelationships between these factors and the mechanism through which they influence PA (Smith et al., 2010).

Interpersonal or social factors have been known to influence PA and may be the most important and modifiable determinants of PA (Gustafson and Rhodes, 2006). In particular, parents play an important role in the development of children's health behaviours (Taylor et al., 1994). Parents can affect the PA behaviours of their children through a variety of mechanisms (Maatta et al., 2014, Trost and Loprinzi, 2011), and have been described as gate-keepers for opportunities to be active (Welk et al., 2003). Parental support to be active and parent's own PA, in particular, are two modifiable factors that can affect activity-related behaviours among children (Tandon et al., 2014, Trost and Loprinzi, 2011, Yao and Rhodes, 2015).

Per Beets and colleagues, parental support “represents the functional characteristics associated with the interactions between a parent and his or her children in the context of intentionally participating in, prompting, discussing, and/or providing activity-related opportunities” (Beets et al., 2010, p. 624). More specifically, parental support has been previously defined as providing encouragement, transportation to PA opportunities, watching children participate in activities, and engaging with children in PA (Beets et al., 2006, Trost and Loprinzi, 2011, Welk et al., 2003). Supportive behaviours have been positively associated with PA of children under the age of 18 years in several systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Gustafson and Rhodes, 2006, Pugliese and Tinsley, 2007, Van Der Horst et al., 2007, Yao and Rhodes, 2015). In general, boys have been found to receive more support to be active than girls (Gustafson and Rhodes, 2006, Lau et al., 2015).

One potential mediator of the relationship between parental support and children's PA is children's perception of this support (Barr-Anderson et al., 2010, Heitzler et al., 2006). However, the role of children's perceptions is not well established (Forthofer et al., 2016). There is also limited research exploring the association between parent-reported support and child perception of that support and how these two factors relate to children's PA levels (Barr-Anderson et al., 2010, Forthofer et al., 2016, Heitzler et al., 2006). In a meta-analysis, Pugliese and Tinsley (2007) reported that children and adolescents were more likely to be inactive if they perceived that their parents did not provide support for PA. Thus, there is a need to determine if child's perception of support mediates the relationship between parent support and child PA.

Parental PA, another modifiable determinant of activity-related behaviours among children, may also affect the development of children's PA behaviours. Evidence from a recent meta-analysis suggested that there is a small effect of parental PA on children's PA (Yao and Rhodes, 2015). However, findings from older systematic reviews suggest that this effect is inconsistent (Biddle and Asare, 2011, Trost and Loprinzi, 2011). Though the relationship between children's perception of support and parent PA has not previously been assessed, it is possible that Parental PA would affect perceived support. Previous work has indicated that there may be a discrepancy between parental activities and children's perceptions regarding the extent to which parents engage in behaviours such as encouragement to be active, transportation to places to be active, or their own PA (Pugliese and Tinsley, 2007).

Given the influence parents have on their children's PA (Garriguet et al., 2017, Gustafson and Rhodes, 2006, Yao and Rhodes, 2015) and the lack of knowledge on the nature of this influence, additional research is needed to understand the mechanism through which parental support and parental PA affect children's PA participation as well as the role of children's perception of parental support as a potential mediator of this relationship. Thus, the purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model linking parental support and parental PA with children's PA and the role of children's perception of parental support as a potential mediator of this relationship. To our knowledge, there are no studies examining this relationship. It was hypothesized that the relationships between parental support and parental PA with children's PA would be mediated by children's perception of parental support. Factors related to parental education, household income, family structure, and geographic accessibility (e.g., distance to the nearest recreational facility, school playground, and park) were also included in the model as exogenous variables and were hypothesized to affect parents support and parental PA levels.