The Experimental Effect of Parent Versus Peer Influence on Children’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Mallory Kobak ◽  
Andrew Lepp ◽  
Michael Rebold ◽  
Ellen Glickman ◽  
Jacob E. Barkley

Purpose: To assess children’s physical activity, sedentary behavior, liking, and motivation during 3 separate simulated recess conditions: playing alone, with their parent participating, and with their peer participating. Methods: Children participated in the 3 separate conditions. During each condition, the children had access to an outdoor playground and sedentary activity options for 30 minutes. Accelerometry recorded the physical activity. Time allocated to sedentary options was monitored via a stopwatch. A visual analog scale was used to assess liking, and motivation was assessed as the children’s willingness to participate in an additional 10 minutes of each condition. Results: The children sat 88% less and were 33% more physically active with their peer versus playing alone. The children also sat 65% less during the parent condition than alone. Lastly, the children reported ≥34% liking and were ≥2-fold more likely to participate in the additional 10-minute activity bout during the parent and peer conditions than alone. The differences were significant (P ≤ .05) except for the children’s decision to participate in the additional 10 minutes in the parent versus the alone condition (P = .058). Conclusions: Relative to the alone condition, the presence of a peer or parent reduced sedentary behavior and increased liking and the motivation to participate in that condition. However, only the presence of a peer increased physical activity versus alone.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 101S-110S
Author(s):  
Ewelina M. Swierad ◽  
Lori Rose Benson ◽  
Olajide Williams

Physically active children have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and depression than their inactive counterparts, and further evidence suggests that integrating physical activity breaks into the school day improves children’s classroom behavior, fitness, and cognitive functions. The current article focuses on the development and implementation of free, scalable, short activity breaks called H.Y.P.E. The Breaks! (Helping Young People Energize)—a series of 2-, 6-, and 10-minute-long dance and hip-hop–based physical activity videos, which can be used in the classroom or at home. H.Y.P.E. The Breaks! is deconstructed through the lens of the multisensory multilevel health education model, which leverages art, culture, and science in the design and implementation of health programs, and highlights the importance of framing and operationalizing program components across the different behavioral levels of influence of the socioecological model. The article also discusses the uptake of H.Y.P.E. The Breaks! during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, when major declines in children’s physical activity were observed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089011712098583
Author(s):  
Mats Hallgren ◽  
Davy Vancampfort ◽  
Thi-Thuy-Dung Nguyen ◽  
Elin Ekblom-Bak ◽  
Peter Wallin ◽  
...  

Purpose: To describe physical activity habits, sedentary behavior, and cardiorespiratory fitness levels among alcohol abstainers, hazardous and non-hazardous drinkers. Design: Cross-sectional study with data collected between 2017-19. Setting: Sweden. Subjects: Adults aged 18-65 years (n = 47,559; 59.4% male). Measures: During a routine health assessment, participants answered validated single-item questions regarding: habitual physical activity, structured exercise, and the percentage of time spent sedentary during leisure-time (past 30 days), and completed a 6-minute cycle ergometer test (V02max) to determine cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Participants were categorized as alcohol abstainers, non-hazardous drinkers or hazardous drinkers (low/high) based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) cut-points for men and women. Analysis: Logistic regression models stratified by sex and age. Results: Compared to non-hazardous drinkers, the heaviest drinkers were less physically active (males: OR = 1.38, CI = 1.13-1.67, p = .001; females: OR = 1.41, CI = 1.01-1.97, p = .040) and more sedentary during leisure time (males: OR = 1.94, CI = 1.62-2.32, p = .000; females: OR = 1.62, CI = 1.21-2.16, p = .001). Apart from young females, the heaviest drinkers also did less structured exercise than non-hazardous drinkers (males: OR = 1.22, CI = 1.15-1.51, p = .000; females: OR = 1.43, CI = 1.15-1.78, p = .001). The strongest associations were seen among adults aged 40-65 years (shown here). High-hazardous drinking was associated with low CRF among older males only (OR = 1.19, CI = 1.00-1.41). Conclusion: Middle-aged adults with AUDIT-C scores of ≥6 (women) and ≥7 (men) were less physically active and more sedentary during leisure time and may be appropriate targets for physical activity interventions.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Xu ◽  
Minghui Quan ◽  
Hanbin Zhang ◽  
Chenglin Zhou ◽  
PeiJie Chen

Purpose This study examined the associations of physical activity levels between parents and their pre-school children based on gender and weekday/weekend. Method 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. Results 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. Conclusion 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.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1105-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Goodman ◽  
James Paskins ◽  
Roger Mackett

Background:Children in primary school are more physically active in the spring/summer. Little is known about the relative contributions of day length and weather, however, or about the underlying behavioral mediators.Methods:325 British children aged 8 to 11 wore accelerometers as an objective measure of physical activity, measured in terms of mean activity counts. Children simultaneously completed diaries in which we identified episodes of out-of-home play, structured sports, and active travel. Our main exposure measures were day length, temperature, rainfall, cloud cover, and wind speed.Results:Overall physical activity was higher on long days (≥ 14 hours daylight), but there was no difference between short (< 9.5 hours) and medium days (10.2–12.6 hours). The effect of long day length was largest between 5 PM and 8 PM, and persisted after adjusting for rainfall, cloud cover, and wind. Up to half this effect was explained by a greater duration and intensity of out-of-home play on long days; structured sports and active travel were less affected by day length.Conclusions:At least above a certain threshold, longer afternoon/evening daylight may have a causal role in increasing child physical activity. This strengthens the public health arguments for daylight saving measures such as those recently under consideration in Britain.


Author(s):  
Ida Damen ◽  
Hans Brombacher ◽  
Carine Lallemand ◽  
Rens Brankaert ◽  
Aarnout Brombacher ◽  
...  

Background: There is increasing interest in the role that technology can play in improving the vitality of knowledge workers. A promising and widely adopted strategy to attain this goal is to reduce sedentary behavior (SB) and increase physical activity (PA). In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art SB and PA interventions using technology in the office environment. By scoping the existing landscape, we identified current gaps and underexplored possibilities. We discuss opportunities for future development and research on SB and PA interventions using technology. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the Association for Computing Machinery digital library, the interdisciplinary library Scopus, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Xplore Digital Library to locate peer-reviewed scientific articles detailing SB and PA technology interventions in office environments between 2009 and 2019. Results: The initial search identified 1130 articles, of which 45 studies were included in the analysis. Our scoping review focused on the technologies supporting the interventions, which were coded using a grounded approach. Conclusion: Our findings showed that current SB and PA interventions using technology provide limited possibilities for physically active ways of working as opposed to the common strategy of prompting breaks. Interventions are also often offered as additional systems or services, rather than integrated into existing office infrastructures. With this work, we have mapped different types of interventions and provide an increased understanding of the opportunities for future multidisciplinary development and research of technologies to address sedentary behavior and physical activity in the office context.


Author(s):  
Lydia Emm-Collison ◽  
Sarah Lewis ◽  
Thomas Reid ◽  
Joe Matthews ◽  
Simon Sebire ◽  
...  

Children’s physical activity decreases during school holidays. Less structured days and reduced participation in organised activities may account for some of the decrease. Little is known about the factors that influence parents’ decision to enrol their child in organised activity such as holiday clubs. This paper sought to explore parents’ perceptions of their child’s physical activity during school holidays and the factors that influence holiday activity-based decision making. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 42 parents of children aged 10–11 years in July 2017 or March 2018. Data were analysed using a combination of inductive and deductive content analysis to explore parents’ perceptions of holiday-based physical activity and the factors associated with how they provide physical activity opportunities for their children. The data revealed that most parents consider their child’s physical activity levels when planning for the school holidays. However, work commitments in the holidays meant many parents had to rely on both informal and formal childcare. Grandparents were the primary source of informal childcare, despite a perception that children were not as physically active when with them. Holiday clubs were also a viable option, but the cost, location and age-appropriateness of provision inhibit parents signing older children up to these regularly.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell R. Pate ◽  
Marsha Dowda ◽  
William H. Brown ◽  
Jonathan Mitchell ◽  
Cheryl Addy

Background:It is known that children are more physically active outdoors than indoors. However, few previous studies have observed the time course for physical activity as young children transition from indoor to outdoor activities.Methods:Participants were 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in the Children’s Activity and Movement in Preschool Study (CHAMPS). Trained observers used the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool Version (OSRAC-P) to record children’s physical activity levels over 20 minutes in outdoor settings. The 20-minute outdoor observational period began immediately following the transition from indoors to outdoors.Results:Children’s activity levels were moderately high at the time of transition and declined over the 20-minute observation period. Different patterns, however, were observed for boys and girls. Overall, boys were more active than girls. Boys’ activity levels declined in a linear fashion over the 20-minute period, while girls’ activity levels increased slightly, decreased, and then increased slightly again.Conclusions:These data indicate that physical activity levels decline with increased duration of outdoor play. The frequency and duration of outdoor play should be investigated for the purpose of optimizing physical activity levels.


Author(s):  
Dorthe Dalstrup Jakobsen ◽  
Jasper Schipperijn ◽  
Jens Meldgaard Bruun

Background: In Denmark, most children are not sufficiently physically active and only a few interventions have been found to increase long-term physical activity among overweight and obese children. The aim of our study was to investigate if children are physically active in correspondence to Danish recommendations after attending a multicomponent-overnight camp. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to estimate children’s physical activity level and behavior and investigate how transport, economy, availability, time, motivation, and knowledge about physical activity affect children’s physical activity level and behavior. Results: In this study, 60.9% of the children did vigorous physical activity (VPA) minimum 30 minutes 3 times per week up to 3 years after camp. Most children were physically active at a sports club (44.3%) and only 5.7% of the children did not participate in physical activity. Parental physical activity and child motivation toward physical activity were significantly (P < .05) associated with children doing VPA. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that 60.9% of children who attended camp engage in VPA after camp, which compared with a recent Danish study, is more frequent than children who did not attend camp. Further investigations are needed to determine the long-term health effects in children attending interventions such as multicomponent-overnight camps.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 982-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noe C. Crespo ◽  
Kirsten Corder ◽  
Simon Marshall ◽  
Gregory J. Norman ◽  
Kevin Patrick ◽  
...  

Background:Girls are less physically active than boys, yet no single study has examined the factors that may explain gender differences in children’s physical activity (PA).Methods:This study was a cross-sectional analysis of data from 116 caregivers and their children aged 5–8 years who participated in the MOVE study. Caregivers reported various factors that may relate to children’s PA (eg, encouragement for child PA and PA equipment at home). Child PA was measured by 7-day accelerometry. Linear regression tested for the variance in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) explained by gender and several variables. Gender and ethnicity interactions were examined.Results:Caregivers were mostly female (97%), mean age 38 ± 6 years, mean BMI 28 ± 6 (kg/m2). Child’s mean age was 8.1 ± 0.7, 54% were female and 40% were overweight/obese. Girls were less physically active than boys (54.1 ± 19.7 vs. 65.2 ± 28.0 daily minutes of MVPA, respectively). Among girls, more days of PE/week was associated with greater MVPA. Among boys, greater parent support for PA, greater parent modeling for PA, and greater number of PA equipment in the home were associated with greater MVPA.Conclusions:This study supports that boys and girls have different correlates for MVPA, which may partly explain gender differences in PA.


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