Parental Impact On Child Physical Activity And Sedentary Time

Background: Being physically active outdoors is linked with positive health outcomes. Despite having ample availability of outdoor space for physical activity in the Appalachian Mountain region, there are low rates of physical activity (PA) and increased prevalence of overweight individuals across all age groups. Therefore, the need to get children and parents active outdoors is ever-present. Purpose: To assess whether parental attitudes and behaviors influence children’s outdoor physical activity and sedentary time. Methods: The current study was a secondary analysis of the baseline data from a pilot study of a pediatrician prescription program for outdoor physical activity. Parents (N = 70) with children aged 5-13 years living in a county served by a single pediatrician office completed surveys in the pediatrician office during a well-child visit. The survey included questions related to parental attitudes toward children’s PA and the PA and sedentary time performed by the parent and their child, both indoors and outdoors. Results: Parental sedentary time was the only factor that had an impact on child sedentary time, with 18% of the variance in children’s sedentarytime being explained by parent sedentary time. Conclusion: To decrease child sedentarytime, interventions should focus on reducing parental and joint parent-child sedentary time.