ACTIVE PARENTS ENCOURAGE ACTIVITY IN CHILDREN

The overweight/obesity/diabetes epidemic in America is becoming a concern for American children: National surveys show that only 36% of children met the Healthy People 2000 goal for vigorous activity; less than 3% meet the Healthy People 2010 objectives; and up to 14% of America's kids are totally inactive. This study sought to define the role of parental activity on the activity levels of 180 nine-year-old girls. Approximately 30% of the girls were overweight and 14% were obese; 60% of mothers and 82% of fathers were overweight; 28% of mothers and 31% of fathers were obese.

Parental involvement in their children's activity was divided into two distinct factors: logistic support and explicit modeling. Each parent was assessed as to whether they were Òintrinsically motivated to be active and intentionally used their behavior to encourage the child to be activeÓ (explicit modeling) or whether they were apt to Òmake provisions to enroll or get to sporting activitiesÓ (logistic support.) The girls were assessed based on their activity levels. Mothers were found to offer more logistic support while fathers tended to be explicit modelers. When neither parent provided a high level of overall support for activity, only 32% of the girls were active; when one parent provided a high level of either support, 56% of the girls were active; when both parents offered high levels of support, 70% of girls were active.

Commentary: Clearly, either kind of parental support is valuable in affecting children's activity levels. What needs to be assessed is the role parental activity and body weight play on their children's activity levels.

K.K. Davison et al. Parents' activity-related parenting practices predict girls' physical activity. Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise 35(9):1589-1595, 2003

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