Relationship of parental health-related behaviours and physical fitness in girls and boys
Nanette Erkelenz
Anja C. Schreiber
Susanne Kobel
Sarah Kettner
Clemens Drenowatz
Jrgen M. Steinacker
Aim Physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF) are known to be closely connected. Various environmental and biological constraints have been shown to influence children's PA with parents being among strong determinants of their children's PA behaviour. However, little is known about parental influence on PF in children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the influence of parental healthrelated behaviours and attitudes on PF in boys and girls. Subjects and methods Baseline data of 1,875 primary school children (7.1 0.6 years; 50 % male) were included in the analyses. Lateral jumping performance was used as a proxy for whole-body coordination and the 6-min run for cardiovascular fitness. Parental health-related behaviours, attitudes and sociodemographic variables were assessed via questionnaire. Regression analyses, adjusting for age and BMI, were performed separately for boys and girls. Results The final models of the regression analyses showed that children's age and BMI are significantly related to PF. Mothers' self-efficacy to encourage their children to be active is significantly associated with boys' coordination and cardiovascular fitness and girls' coordination. Mothers' PA affects PF in boys, not in girls. Maternal smoking has a significantly negative effect on both boys' and girls' cardiovascular fitness. Conclusion This study shows that parental health-related behaviours and self-efficacy to encourage their children to be active affect children's PF. Influencing factors, however, differ in girls and boys, and mothers seem especially influential.
-
It is well documented that sufficient physical activity (PA) and
moderate to high levels of cardiovascular fitness are essential
for childhood development and have numerous health benefits
in children and adolescents (Ekelund et al. 2007). PA during
childhood and adolescence is beneficially associated with
body fatness and well-being at young adult age (Boreham
and Riddoch 2001). For children, at least 60 min of moderate
to vigorous PA (MVPA) daily are recommended (WHO
2010). In order to increase cardiovascular fitness even more
time in moderate to vigorous intensity activity is necessary
(Andersen et al. 2006). Nevertheless, a considerable number
of children currently do not meet these recommendations
(Ekelund et al. 2011). Low PA levels during childhood are
particularly alarming since the basis of adequate PA levels and
an active lifestyle in adulthood are established during early
childhood (Baker et al. 2007).
Various environmental and biological factors have been
shown to influence childrens PA (Kettner et al. 2012), and
parents have been suggested to play a crucial role (Gustafson
and Rhodes 2006). Results from studies on associations
between parental activity behaviour and childrens PA, however,
have been equivocal (Gustafson and Rhodes 2006; Trost and
Loprinzi 2011). It seems that parental PA is not necessarily
key for childrens PA, whereas parental support and
encouragement were found to be more important than being an active
role model (Trost et al. 2003).
PA and physical fitness (PF) are known to be closely
connected, whilst an increase in PA mostly leads to increases
in PF (Dencker et al. 2006). Therefore, not only childrens PA
is influenced by biological and environmental factors; they
also appear to play an important role in childrens PF levels
(Ortega et al. 2008). Additionally, PF, especially
cardiovascular fitness, is known to have favourable effects on health in
children and adolescents (Ekelund et al. 2007). In a large-scale
European study of children and adolescents an independent
association between cardiorespiratory fitness and PA with
metabolic risk factors has been shown (Ekelund et al. 2007).
At this time, little is known about parental influence on
childrens PF as previous studies mainly focussed on parental
PA and childrens PF (Cleland et al. 2005; Martn-Matillas
et al. 2012). Overall, these studies showed a positive
relationship between parental PA and childrens PF. An early study
analysed the influence of parental encouragement and
attitudes on childrens PF (McMurray et al. 1993) but found no
associations. Recent research, however, has shown an
association between paternal encouragement and adolescents
cardiorespiratory fitness (Martn-Matillas et al. 2012).
Whilst parental PA has been shown to be associated
with cardiorespiratory fitness in children (Cleland et al.
2005), there is hardly any research focusing on parental
health-related behaviours and their confidence to
encourage their children to be physically active and the effects
this has on boys and girls PF. Therefore, the purpose of
this study was to identify the influence of parental
health-related behaviours and self-efficacyto encourage
PA on PF in boys and girls.
Design and participants
Baseline data of 1,875 primary school children (7. (...truncated)