title: The Effect of Parental Involvement on Children's Physical Activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the amount, intensity, enjoyment, and preference of children's physical activity in a controlled gymnasium setting under 3 experimental, social conditions: alone, with a parent watching, and with a parent participating.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children (n = 10 girls, 10 boys), 3-6 years old, along with 1 parent (n = 17 mothers, 3 fathers) per child participated in each social condition on separate days for 30 minutes in which they could choose from a variety of physical and/or sedentary activities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A greater number of accelerometer counts (P ≤ .02) were accumulated during the parent participating (109,523 ± 32,155 counts) condition than the alone (67,938 ± 37,857 counts) and parent watching (85,624 ± 44,985 counts) conditions. Counts during parent watching were also greater (P = .01) than alone. More time (P ≤ .008) was allocated to sedentary activities during the alone (16.2 ± 9.6 minutes) condition than parent watching (9.6 ± 9.3 minutes) and parent participating (3.8 ± 5.1 minutes). Children liked (P ≤ .02) the parent participating (9.9 ± 0.45 cm) condition more than alone (8.0 ± 2.72 cm) and parent watching (8.7 ± 1.52 cm). A greater (P < .001) proportion of children identified the parent participating (80%) as their preferred condition over either the parent watching (10%) or alone (10%) conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parental participation during physical activity (or at minimum direct supervision) may be an important component in the development of physical activity environments intended to maximize physical activity behavior in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA; College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH. Electronic address: mrebold@bloomu.edu.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rebold
authors.affiliation: College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lepp
authors.affiliation: College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH.
authors.forename: Mallory S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kobak
authors.affiliation: College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.affiliation: College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH.
authors.forename: Jacob E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Barkley
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents