title: Sources of activity-related social support and adolescents' objectively measured after-school and weekend physical activity: gender and age differences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To progress physical activity (PA) social support research using objective measures of PA, attention should be turned to specific segments of the day (eg, after school or weekends) in which young people spend the majority of their time with parents or friends. Furthermore, the majority of previous research has focused on the influence of parents and peers. The current study examined gender and age differences in 5 sources of activity-related social support and their relationship with objectively measured after-school and weekend PA among adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  328 adolescents aged 12-16 years (57% boys) wore an accelerometer for 7 days and completed a questionnaire assessing support for PA. After-school and weekend PA were extracted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescents perceived more support from their peers compared with other sources and boys perceived more peer support than girls. Younger adolescents perceived greater amounts of family support and explicit modeling from both mother and father; however, logistic support appeared constant throughout adolescence. After controlling for gender and age, peer support was a significant influence on after-school MVPA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that there may be benefit in encouraging adolescents to participate in PA in the after-school period with their peers.
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Charlotte Louise
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Edwardson
authors.forename: Trish
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gorely
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atkin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010290:Parents; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires