This study examined the associations of physical activity levels between parents and their pre-school children based on gender and weekday/weekend.
A total of 247 parent-preschool child triads from Shanghai, China were analyzed. The children had a mean age of 57.5 ± 5.2 months. Both sedentary behavior and physical activity were measured in all participants using an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer over seven consecutive days from Monday through the following Sunday. A multivariate regression model was derived to identify significant relationships between parental and child physical activity according to gender and weekday/weekend.
There was a significant correlation between mothers’ and girls’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and total physical activity (TPA) on weekdays. Fathers’ MPVA levels correlated significantly with those of boys and girls, with paternal influence appearing to be stronger than maternal influence. However, there was not a significant correlation between fathers’ and children’s TPA. TPA levels of both mothers and fathers correlated with those of girls, but not with those of boys. Parental sedentary levels on the weekend correlated significantly with girls’ levels, but not with boys’ levels. Children’s physical activity levels on weekends were influenced more by fathers’ activity levels than by mothers’, while the opposite was observed on weekdays.
Sedentary behavior and physical activity levels of parents can strongly influence those of their preschool children, with maternal influence stronger during the weekdays and paternal influence stronger on the weekends. Parents’ activity levels influence girls’ levels more strongly than they influence boys’ levels.
Prevalence of obesity and overweight continue to increase among preschool age children in China (
Inadequate physical activity and excessive sedentary time are the primary causes of overweight and obesity in preschool children (
Environmental factors likely affect the behaviors and habits of preschool children, including their tendency to engage in MVPA (
For example, preschool children’s physical activity correlates with that of their parents (
The relationship between parents’ and children’s physical activity appears to be complex. The child’s gender may play a role, with some work suggesting that parents affect the physical activity of their sons more than the activity of their daughters (
While adults typically engage in various types of physical activity (work, housework, physical exercise, entertainment), preschool children engage predominantly in entertainment, which involves brief but frequent bursts of activity. Measuring such activity can be challenging. Although direct observation is considered the gold standard for measuring physical activity, it may not be feasible in many situations because of expectancy bias, observation effects, and even issues of privacy for study participants. Self-report instruments such as questionnaires can be used to measure physical activity, but children younger than 10-11 years may not have the necessary cognitive skills to accurately report physical activity levels. For children, then, objective tools such as motion sensors can be the most appropriate method for assessing physical activity levels. Pedometers and actigraphs have been used to measure numbers of steps in youth studies (
A superior alternative to assessing children’s physical activity levels may be to use pedometers and accelerometers. With the rapid development of computer science and technology, the application of accelerometer not only reduce the errors of retrospecting physical activity by ones’ memories, still this can measure the time needed to achieve a given intensity of activity as well as estimate energy consumption. As a result, accelerometer has been widely used in the measuring of children and adolescents’ physical activity (
Based on the existing relevant researches and circumstances of Chinese preschool children physical activity, this research will adopt a cross-sectional study design, to probe into the relevance between parental physical activity level between preschool children activity level. Supposing that parents’ physical activity levels have great effect on preschool children physical activity level, and the effect may exist differences for the gender and time range (weekday, weekends) factors.The ActiGraph GT3X+ (Actigraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) accelerometer was used to measure both sedentary behavior and physical activity of preschool children and their parents living in Shanghai, China. A multivariate regression model was derived to identify associations in physical activity levels between parents and children according to gender and weekday/weekends.
The study was carried out ethically and approved by the Ethical Committee of Shanghai University of Sport (No. 2014028).
A sample of 346 parent–child triads were recruited from a larger measurement validation study of families with children attending four public and three private kindergartens in the Yangpu and Baoshan districts of Shanghai, China. Before subject recruitment, the principals and teachers of the kindergartens and parents were informed of the purpose and procedures of the study, which was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the Shanghai University of Sport. The purpose of the study was explained to the father or mother of the participating families, who then gave written informed consent.
Study participants wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer (Actigraph, Pensacola, FL, USA) from 6 am to 11 pm every day for seven consecutive days from a Saturday through the following Sunday (five weekdays and one weekend) (
Participants were asked to fill out three questionnaires. The children’s questionnaire, which was filled out by the children’s parents or guardians, asked about birth date, gender, daily care and early childhood education. Age in months was calculated as months from the birthdate until the measurement date. The parent’s questionnaire asked about education level, monthly income, family structure, parent’s working style and duration of daily contact with children (on weekdays and weekends). Finally, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which was filled out by the child’s main preschool teacher, asked four items: “whether the child shows lack of concentration or non-persistent attention”, “whether the child is introverted and unwilling to talk”, “whether the child is over-fatigued” and “whether the child has slow actions or anenergia.” Respondents could select a response of “not at all” (1 point), “occasionally” (2 points) or “frequently” (3 points). This test was used to assess the movement ability of preschool children, identify behavioral problems in participating children and ensure the validity of the collected data.
Weight and height were measured using standard physical fitness monitoring equipment. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using the formula: BMI = (body weight in kg)/(height in m)2. According to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), the children with BMI >25 were classified as overweight and >30 as obese (
Cardiorespiratory and motor fitness (
For the 20-m shuttle-run test, the preschool children had to run back and forth for 20 m at an initial speed of 8.5 km/h, which increased by 0.5 km/h every minute in response to a whistle sound played on a CD (
Duration of physical activity was estimated using a floating window algorithm (
All analyses were conducted using SPSS 22.0 (IBM, Chicago, IL, USA). A two-sided
Of the 346 parent–child triads initially recruited into the study, 99 were excluded due to inadequate data. As a result, 247 parent–child triads were included in the analysis, which comprised 86 fathers, 161 mothers, 140 boys and 107 girls (
Characteristic | Total ( |
Boys ( |
Girls ( |
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age (month) | 57.4 ± 5.2 | 57.9 ± 5.2 | 56.9 ± 5.3 | 0.927 | |
BMI (kg/m2) | 16.3 ± 1.9 | 16.6 ± 1.9 | 15.8 ± 1.7 | 0.083 | |
Normal | 195 | 102 | 93 | ||
Overweight/Obese | 52 | 38 | 14 | 0.011 | |
Child behavior score | Low (4–6 points) | 155 | 74 | 81 | – |
Median (7–9) | 82 | 56 | 26 | – | |
High (10–12) | 10 | 10 | 0 | – | |
Cardiorespiratory fitness (laps) | 11 (10–14) | 11 (9–14) | 12 (10–15) | 0.151 | |
Motor fitness (S) | 7.0 (6.6–7.6) | 7.0 (6.5–7.6) | 7.1 (6.7–7.6) | 0.219 | |
Family structure | Living with both parents | 238 | 136 | 102 | – |
Other | 9 | 4 | 5 | – | |
Household income (RMB/month) | <4,000 | 6 | 4 | 2 | – |
4,000–8,000 | 41 | 21 | 20 | – | |
8,001–15,000 | 108 | 63 | 46 | – | |
15,001–30,000 | 73 | 44 | 29 | – | |
>30,000 | 18 | 8 | 10 | – |
Values are reported as mean ± SD for normally distributed data, as median (interquartile range) for skewed data, or count for categorical data.
body mass index
Boys spent significantly longer amounts of time in sedentary behavior on weekdays (596.9 ± 68.8 min/day) than on weekends (537.5 ± 89.6 min/day;
Parameter | Total | Weekday | Weekend | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boys’ physical activity ( |
Sedentary | 580.8 ± 61.4 | 596.9 ± 68.8 | 537.5 ± 89.6 | <0.001 | 0.74 |
MVPA | 74.6 ± 18.7 | 73.3 ± 18.4 | 77.8 ± 26.2 | 0.013 | −0.20 | |
TPA | 176.6 ± 32.9 | 174.1 ± 33.0 | 182.3 ± 47.7 | 0.020 | −0.20 | |
Girls’ physical activity ( |
Sedentary | 585.7 ± 59.8 | 604.8 ± 71.2 | 531.7 ± 83.9 | <0.001 | 0.94 |
MVPA | 69.9 ± 15.0 | 69.8 ± 16.1 | 69.2 ± 18.8 | 0.729 | 0.03 | |
TPA | 166.4 ± 27.0 | 165.8 ± 29.3 | 166.3 ± 35.9 | 0.878 | −0.02 | |
Fathers’ physical activity ( |
Sedentary | 422.8 ± 78.1 | 437.0 ± 94.4 | 394.1 ± 101.8 | 0.001 | 0.44 |
MVPA | 37.7 ± 22.7 | 39.5 ± 26.4 | 33.6 ± 23.1 | 0.026 | 0.24 | |
TPA | 316.1 ± 68.2 | 318.2 ± 76.8 | 311.9 ± 78.7 | 0.477 | 0.08 | |
Mothers’ physical activity ( |
Sedentary | 399.5 ± 81.8 | 409.7 ± 93.2 | 369.7 ± 95.1 | <0.001 | 0.42 |
MVPA | 33.3 ± 21.3 | 36.1 ± 22.2 | 26.6 ± 27.5 | <0.001 | 0.24 | |
TPA | 334.0 ± 81.6 | 335.3 ± 87.5 | 331.5 ± 94.6 | 0.552 | 0.04 | |
Parents’ interaction time with children (h) | ≤1 | – | 61 | 32 | – | |
2–4 | – | 137 | 19 | – | ||
>5 | – | 49 | 196 | – |
Values are reported as mean ± SD for normally distributed data, as median (interquartile range) for skewed data, or count for categorical data.
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity total physical activity
Just over half (55.5%) of the fathers or mothers wearing an accelerometer spent 2–4 h with their children on weekdays (
There was a significant correlation on weekdays between parental sedentary activity and the sedentary activity of boys, girls and all children combined (all
Sedentary behavior | MVPA | TPA | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Subject | Boy | Girl | All | Boy | Girl | All | Boy | Girl | All |
Weekday | Father | 0.244 | 0.318 |
0.279 |
0.032 | 0.332 |
0.153 | 0.181 | 0.134 | 0.153 |
Mother | 0.260 |
0.201 | 0.238 |
0.039 | 0.373 |
0.163 |
0.154 | 0.249 |
0.202 |
|
All | 0.278 |
0.255 |
0.270 |
0.038 | 0.331 |
0.155 |
0.168 |
0.205 |
0.191 |
|
Weekend | Father | 0.050 | 0.453 |
0.235 |
0.339 |
0.444 |
0.329 |
0.279 | 0.337 |
0.272 |
Mother | 0.145 | 0.319 |
0.213 |
0.051 | 0.105 | 0.086 | 0.127 | 0.309 |
0.204 |
|
All | 0.109 | 0.357 |
0.212 |
0.123 | 0.201 |
0.145 |
0.177 |
0.314 |
0.231 |
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity total physical activity
On weekends, sedentary levels of parents correlated with those of girls and all children combined (all
Parents’ MVPA levels correlated significantly with those of girls and all children combined (both
Linear regression models were developed to describe the effects of parental physical activity on children’ physical activity on both weekdays and weekends (
Sedentary behavior | MVPA | TPA | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Father ( |
0.279 | 0.153 | 0.159 | 0.153 | 0.160 | |
0.067 | 0.012 | 0.012 | ||||
Mother ( |
0.243 | 0.162 | 0.207 | |||
0.053 | 0.020 | 0.037 | ||||
Total ( |
0.274 | 0.154 | 0.194 | |||
0.072 | 0.020 | 0.034 | ||||
Father ( |
0.235 | 0.329 | 0.272 | |||
0.044 | 0.098 | 0.063 | ||||
Mother ( |
0.214 | 0.086 | 0.287 | 0.206 | ||
0.040 | 0.001 | 0.036 | ||||
Total ( |
0.214 | 0.144 | 0.232 | |||
0.042 | 0.017 | 0.050 | ||||
Father ( |
0.281 | 0.138 | 0.222 | 0.197 | 0.074 | |
0.045 | −0.002 | 0.055 | ||||
Mother ( |
0.243 | 0.140 | 0.186 | |||
0.058 | 0.057 | 0.088 | ||||
Total ( |
0.276 | 0.146 | 0.191 | |||
0.072 | 0.040 | 0.067 | ||||
Father ( |
0.240 | 0.381 | 0.318 | |||
0.014 | 0.055 | 0.058 | ||||
Mother ( |
0.227 | 0.046 | 0.574 | 0.203 | ||
0.129 | 0.037 | 0.039 | ||||
Total ( |
0.211 | 0.137 | 0.234 | |||
0.082 | 0.019 | 0.041 |
moderate to vigorous physical activity total physical activity
The
Model 1: Unadjusted.
Model 2: Adjusted for age, BMI, family structure, household income, child behavior score, parent–child interaction time per day and parent’s working style.
The present study showed a significant association between levels of sedentary behavior and physical activity of preschool children in Shanghai with the corresponding levels in their parents. Multivariate linear regression revealed significant differences in physical activity levels between weekdays and weekends, between fathers and mothers, and between boys and girls. This regression was adjusted for age, BMI, family structure, household income, parent–child interaction time per day and parent’s working style.
Levels of SB, MVPA, and TPA differed significantly between weekdays and weekends for parents and children. Sedentary behavior levels in boys, girls and parents were higher on weekdays than on weekends. This is consistent with the idea that on weekdays, most parents are at work and have little time to participate in planned physical activity. In contrast, preschool children stay in kindergarten between 7 am and 5 pm, with high sedentary behavior levels.
On weekdays and weekends, parents and preschool children spent more time in sedentary behavior than in physical activity. The factors behind this are likely similar to those reported in the study “Physical Activity and Health in Children and Adolescents” released by the Spanish government (
We found that parental physical activity had a significant influence on preschool children’s physical activity (
We examined to what extent the observed parental effects on children were dependent on gender. Our data indicated that parents’ sedentary behavior and TPA were associated with the corresponding behaviors in their sons and daughters. The data also showed an association between parents’ and daughters’ MVPA levels. On weekends, parents’ MVPA as well as their sedentary behavior correlated with girls’ levels, and parents’ TPA levels correlated with those of boys. Previous work has reported higher physical activity levels in boys than in girls, especially in families where parents strongly support children’s participation in physical activity (
Our study also examined the relative influence of fathers’ or mothers’ physical activity on their children’s activity. Most of the previous studies have focused on the mother-child link. For example, one study involving 554 preschool children aged 4 years old and their mothers showed associations between the two groups in accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior, LPA and MVPA (
In summary, these findings suggest that preschool children’s home environment must be taken into account when developing physical activity guidelines for Chinese preschool children. These guidelines should inform and influence parent–child interactions. However, this research still belongs to a cross-sectional study, the results of the present study should be interpreted with caution because of several limitations. Since the accelerometer cannot measure all types of physical activity in preschool children, it is possible that TPA was underestimated. It is also possible that the physical activity in our study was affected by factors that we did not control, such as the weather and parents’ and children’s emotional states. We did not assess parental lifestyle, hobbies, interests or exercise skills, all of which can affect preschool children’s physical and mental development, emotional state (
Further studies are needed to systematically analyze associations between parents’ and preschool children’s physical activity over a given time period. Lastly, we did not take into account the possible influence of household composition such as the presence of grandparents and hired nannies. These factors are likely to influence preschool children’s physical activity, particularly in the multigenerational, single-child households that still predominate in urban centers like Shanghai.
The results of this study demonstrate that parental levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior affect the corresponding levels in their preschool children. These associations are significant and can be affected by many factors, include the parent’s gender, the child’s gender and whether it is a weekday or weekend. For example, maternal influence appears to be stronger during the weekdays, and paternal influence stronger on the weekends. Parents’ activity levels influence girls’ levels more strongly than they influence boys’ levels.
The authors declare there are no competing interests.
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Shanghai University of Sport (No. 2014028).
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
The raw data has been provided as a