Abstract
Objectives Examine the extent that parent gender is associated with supporting children's physical activity. Design Cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Setting 47 primary schools located in Bristol (UK). Participants 944 children aged 8-9 years and one of their parents provided quantitative data; 51 parents (20 fathers) were interviewed. Methods Children wore an accelerometer, and mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day, counts per minute (CPM) and achievement of national MVPA guidelines were derived. Parents reported who leads in supporting child activity during the week and weekend. Linear and logistic regression examined the association between gender of parent who supports child activity and child physical activity. For the semistructured telephone interviews, inductive and deductive content analyses were used to explore the role of gender in how parents support child activity. Results Parents appeared to have a stronger role in supporting boys to be more active, than girls, and the strongest associations were when they reported that both parents had equal roles in supporting their child. For example, compared with the reference of female/mother support, equal contribution from both parents during the week was associated with boys doing 5.9 (95% CI 1.2 to 10.6) more minutes of MVPA per day and more CPM when both parents support on weekday and weekends (55.1 (14.3 to 95.9) and 52.8 (1.8 to 103.7), respectively). Associations in girls were weaker and sometimes in the opposite direction, but there was no strong statistical evidence for gender interactions. Themes emerged from the qualitative data, specifically; parents proactively supporting physical activity equally, mothers supporting during the week, families getting together at weekends, families doing activities separately due to preferences and parents using activities to bond one-to-one with children. Conclusions Mothers primarily support child activity during the week. Children, possibly more so boys, are more active if both parents share the supporting role.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e019732 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Jan 2018 |
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Keywords
- children
- gender
- mixed-methods
- parents
- physical activity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Roles of mothers and fathers in supporting child physical activity : A cross-sectional mixed-methods study. / Solomon-Moore, Emma; Toumpakari, Zoi; Sebire, Simon ; Thompson, Janice; Lawlor, Deborah; Jago, Russell.
In: BMJ Open, Vol. 8, No. 1, e019732, 21.01.2018, p. 1-10.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Roles of mothers and fathers in supporting child physical activity
T2 - A cross-sectional mixed-methods study
AU - Solomon-Moore, Emma
AU - Toumpakari, Zoi
AU - Sebire, Simon
AU - Thompson, Janice
AU - Lawlor, Deborah
AU - Jago, Russell
N1 - © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
PY - 2018/1/21
Y1 - 2018/1/21
N2 - Objectives Examine the extent that parent gender is associated with supporting children's physical activity. Design Cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Setting 47 primary schools located in Bristol (UK). Participants 944 children aged 8-9 years and one of their parents provided quantitative data; 51 parents (20 fathers) were interviewed. Methods Children wore an accelerometer, and mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day, counts per minute (CPM) and achievement of national MVPA guidelines were derived. Parents reported who leads in supporting child activity during the week and weekend. Linear and logistic regression examined the association between gender of parent who supports child activity and child physical activity. For the semistructured telephone interviews, inductive and deductive content analyses were used to explore the role of gender in how parents support child activity. Results Parents appeared to have a stronger role in supporting boys to be more active, than girls, and the strongest associations were when they reported that both parents had equal roles in supporting their child. For example, compared with the reference of female/mother support, equal contribution from both parents during the week was associated with boys doing 5.9 (95% CI 1.2 to 10.6) more minutes of MVPA per day and more CPM when both parents support on weekday and weekends (55.1 (14.3 to 95.9) and 52.8 (1.8 to 103.7), respectively). Associations in girls were weaker and sometimes in the opposite direction, but there was no strong statistical evidence for gender interactions. Themes emerged from the qualitative data, specifically; parents proactively supporting physical activity equally, mothers supporting during the week, families getting together at weekends, families doing activities separately due to preferences and parents using activities to bond one-to-one with children. Conclusions Mothers primarily support child activity during the week. Children, possibly more so boys, are more active if both parents share the supporting role.
AB - Objectives Examine the extent that parent gender is associated with supporting children's physical activity. Design Cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Setting 47 primary schools located in Bristol (UK). Participants 944 children aged 8-9 years and one of their parents provided quantitative data; 51 parents (20 fathers) were interviewed. Methods Children wore an accelerometer, and mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day, counts per minute (CPM) and achievement of national MVPA guidelines were derived. Parents reported who leads in supporting child activity during the week and weekend. Linear and logistic regression examined the association between gender of parent who supports child activity and child physical activity. For the semistructured telephone interviews, inductive and deductive content analyses were used to explore the role of gender in how parents support child activity. Results Parents appeared to have a stronger role in supporting boys to be more active, than girls, and the strongest associations were when they reported that both parents had equal roles in supporting their child. For example, compared with the reference of female/mother support, equal contribution from both parents during the week was associated with boys doing 5.9 (95% CI 1.2 to 10.6) more minutes of MVPA per day and more CPM when both parents support on weekday and weekends (55.1 (14.3 to 95.9) and 52.8 (1.8 to 103.7), respectively). Associations in girls were weaker and sometimes in the opposite direction, but there was no strong statistical evidence for gender interactions. Themes emerged from the qualitative data, specifically; parents proactively supporting physical activity equally, mothers supporting during the week, families getting together at weekends, families doing activities separately due to preferences and parents using activities to bond one-to-one with children. Conclusions Mothers primarily support child activity during the week. Children, possibly more so boys, are more active if both parents share the supporting role.
KW - children
KW - gender
KW - mixed-methods
KW - parents
KW - physical activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051619145&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019732
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019732
M3 - Article
C2 - 29358449
VL - 8
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
SN - 2044-6055
IS - 1
M1 - e019732
ER -