DAVISON, K. K., T. M. CUTTING, and L. L. BIRCH. Parents' Activity-Related Parenting Practices Predict Girls' Physical Activity. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 35, No. 9, pp. 1589-1595, 2003.
Purpose: Using a sample of 180 9-yr-old girls and their parents, this study examined (a) parents' activity-related parenting strategies and similarities and differences in such strategies for mothers and fathers, and (b) links between activity-related parenting strategies and girls' physical activity patterns.
Methods: Measures of girls' physical activity included the Children's Physical Activity scale, participation in organized sports, and physical fitness. We developed a questionnaire to assess ways in which parents promote physical activity among their children.
Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified two factors for each parent including logistic support of girls' activity (i.e., enrolling girls in sports and driving them to events) and parents' explicit modeling (i.e., the extent to which parents used their own behavior to encourage their daughters to be active). Mothers reported significantly higher levels of logistic support than fathers, whereas fathers reported higher levels of explicit modeling than mothers. Although mothers and fathers tended to report different methods of support, both methods were associated with higher physical activity among girls. Finally, girls reported significantly higher levels of physical activity when at least one parent reported high levels of overall support in comparison to no parents; no significant differences were identified for support from one versus two parents.
Conclusion: Results from this study indicate the positive contribution that parents can have on activity practices of their young daughters.
The majority of children and adolescents in the United States do not meet recommendations for physical activity, particularly for vigorous activity. Only 36% of children met the Healthy People 2000 goal for vigorous activity (29), and current figures using objective measures of physical activity indicate that fewer than 3% of youth meet Healthy People 2010 objectives for vigorous physical activity (15). In addition, data from multiple national surveys indicate that 14% of youth do not participate in any activity (27). The failure to meet activity recommendations is problematic because low levels of physical activity have been linked to higher rates of Type II diabetes mellitus, hypertension, colon cancer, depression, osteoporosis, and obesity (16,24). Levels of physical activity, or lack of activity, are not uniform among youth. Girls exhibit lower levels of physical activity and fitness than boys (22,27). In addition, physical activity declines as girls and boys approach puberty (27), and this decline is greater for girls than boys (22). Given that girls' involvement in physical activity appears to decline with the onset of puberty, it is important to determine factors contributing to girls' sport and activity participation before this point in their development. Such factors are potential targets for intervention efforts to promote physical activity among girls as they transition through adolescence.
Parents are important teachers and social referents for children throughout childhood and adolescence (7). In addition to serving as role models for physical activity, parents are also central in organizing and funding children's involvement in physical activities. Not surprisingly, therefore, parental participation in physical activity (24,28), encouragement of activity (2,19), and provision of transportation to sporting events (23) have been linked to higher levels of activity among children and adolescents. Parental involvement may be particularly relevant for girls because parent activity and encouragement have been shown to influence activity patterns of girls to a greater extent than boys (4,13,25). Although research indicates that parental influence is important, ways in which mothers and fathers differ in their activity-related parenting practices and the combined influence of mothers and fathers on children's physical activity are relatively unexplored. Therefore, using a sample of 9-yr-old girls and their parents, the goals of this study were (a) to assess similarities and differences in mothers' and fathers' activity-related parenting practices; (b) to assess links between mothers' and fathers' parenting strategies and girls' physical activity; and (c) to examine the combined influence of mothers and fathers on girls' physical activity, specifically to examine whether there is any added benefit to having two parents who promote and encourage physical activity in comparison with one or no parents.