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Parental Correlates of Physical Activity in Children and Early Adolescents

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

Ryan E. Rhodes is supported by a scholar award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and with funds from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge and Development Fund, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this review. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this review.

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  1. Behavioural Medicine Laboratory, Faculty of Education, University of Victoria, PO Box 3015 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3P1, Canada

    Sabrina L. Gustafson & Ryan E. Rhodes

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  1. Sabrina L. Gustafson
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Correspondence to Ryan E. Rhodes.

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Gustafson, S.L., Rhodes, R.E. Parental Correlates of Physical Activity in Children and Early Adolescents. Sports Med 36, 79–97 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200636010-00006

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