Are parental concerns about children's inactivity warranted, and are they associated with a supportive home environment?
This paper explores parental concern about children's activity levels and whether parents who are concerned about their child's activity provide a supportive environment. A sample of 615 parents of 5-6-year-old children and 947 parents of 10-12-year-old children completed a questionnaire. Just over 50% of parents reported they were concerned their child was not getting enough activity. Children of concerned parents were less active than those whose parents were not concerned. These findings suggest that parents who are concerned about their child's physical activity levels provided a less supportive environment for physical activity than parents who are not concerned. The challenge for public health will be to harness parental concerns and translate them into action.
Jackson
Michelle
M
Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. michelle.jackson@deakin.edu.au
Crawford
David
D
Campbell
Karen
K
Salmon
Jo
J
D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support