This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

James F. Sallis, PhD; John E. Alcaraz, PhD; Thomas L. McKenzie, PhD; Melbourne F. Hovell, PhD, MPH; Bohdan Kolody, PhD; Philip R. Nader, MD

Am J Dis Child. 1992;146(11):1383-1388.

Abstract
• Objective.
—To examine the relationship between parental behaviors and physical activity and fitness in elementary school—aged children.

Design.
—Cross-sectional survey of students and parents.

Setting
.—Seven public elementary schools in a suburban southern California city.

Participants.
—One hundred forty-eight fourth-grade girls and 149 fourth-grade boys and their parents. Eighty-four percent were white.

Interventions.
—None.

Measurements/Main Results.
—Children's physical activity was indicated by self-report, data obtained from a monitor (accelerometer), and results of the mile run/walk. Multiple regression analysis, controlling for ethnicity and body mass index, was conducted separately for girls and boys to explain variation in child activity and fitness. Parents' reported physical activity was not associated with child activity or fitness. However, availability of transportation by parents to sport and fitness activities was significant (or nearly so) in two regressions for boys and in one regression for girls. Parents who played with their children had more active boys, based on self-report, but verbal encouragement to be active was not significant in any model.

Conclusion.
—The parental role as gatekeeper of access to activity and sport facilities deserves further study.

(AJDC. 1992;146:1383-1388)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Psychology (Dr Sallis), Physical Education (Dr McKenzie), and Sociology (Dr Kolody) and the Graduate School of Public Health (Dr Hovell), San Diego (Calif) State University, and the Departments of Mathematics (Dr Alcaraz) and Pediatrics (Drs Sallis and Nader), University of California, San Diego.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication July 14, 1992.

Reprint requests to Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 6363 Alvarado Ct, Suite 104, San Diego, CA 92120-4913 (Dr Sallis).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Psychosocial Correlates of Physical Activity in Healthy Children
Strauss et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2001;155:897-902.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT