28 Dec Parents Participation Increases Physical Activity in Children

Dr. Rebold

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Michael Rebold, PhD, CSCS
Assistant Professor
Department of Exercise Science
Bloomsburg University
Bloomsburg, PA 17815

Medical Research: What is the background for this study?

Dr. Rebold: The obesity epidemic seen in children.  If we can make children at a young age physically active then maybe they will be more likely to be physically active into their adult years.  Since parents are the primary role models for younger children we must find ways to get the parents involved in physical activity as well, because children will model their parent’s behaviors.

Medical Research: What are the main findings?

Dr. Rebold: The main findings from this study are that when parents are actively participating in activities with their children, their children spend more time in physical activities and less time in sedentary activities. When parents are not present and children are alone, then they spend more time engaging in sedentary activities and less time in physical activities.  When parents are actively watching their children, children still engaged in a significant more amount of time in physical activities than sedentary activities when compared to the alone condition but still not as great as with parents participating.

Children also liked and were motivated to engage in additional physical activity time when parents were participating with them.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Rebold: For younger children it is imperative for parents to model physical activity and participate with their children in physical activities because this will translate into greater amounts of physical activity and lesser amounts of sedentary activity being accumulated throughout a given week.  At the very least, parents should at least watch their children. Leaving children alone results in greater sedentary time.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Rebold: To examine watching.  More specifically have one condition where a parent is actively watching their child and another condition where the parent is on their cell phone.  When the parent is actively watching their child will that child engage in more physical activities?  When the parent is on their cell phone will that child engage in more sedentary activities?  Myself and a few other investigators are currently conducting this study at Bloomsburg University and hope to have the results available at the beginning of the Summer.

Citation:

The Effect of Parental Involvement on Children’s Physical Activity

Michael Rebold (2015). Parents Participation Increases Physical Activity in Children 

Last Updated on December 28, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD