Abstract

Background

Parents are central to healthy development in early childhood. Study objectives were to examine the associations between parent and child sedentary behaviour and physical activity in a large representative sample of Canadian 3-5-year-olds, and to determine if associations differed between sons and daughters and mothers and fathers.

Data and methods

Participants were 1,116 children aged 3-5 years and one of their biological parents from cycles 2-5 (2009-2017) of the repeated cross-sectional Canadian Health Measures Survey. Sedentary time, light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) were objectively-measured in both parents and children with Actical accelerometers. Average minutes/day for all valid days, valid weekdays, and valid weekend days (n=935) were calculated. Screen time of both parents and children was parent-reported, and average hours/day were calculated. Pearson correlations and linear regression models with interaction terms were conducted.

Results

In the overall sample, all of the parental physical activity and sedentary behaviours were significantly correlated with children’s behaviours (r=0.08-0.20). No significant parental or child sex interactions were observed in linear regression models so models were not stratified by parent or child sex. Significant associations with small effect sizes were observed between all of the parental behaviours and children’s behaviours. For accelerometer data this was consistent for total days, weekdays, and weekend days.

Interpretation

Parental sedentary behaviour and physical activity may be intervention targets in early childhood. This appears consistent regardless of the sex of the parent or child. Given the small effect sizes observed, additional intervention targets should also be considered.

Keywords

Preschool children; Parents; Sedentary behaviour; Physical activity; Accelerometer

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202000200001-eng

Findings

Physical activity has numerous physical, social, and cognitive health benefits in early childhood. Conversely, sedentary behaviour, in particular screen time, is detrimentally associated with healthy growth and development in this age group. The behavioural patterns formed in early childhood have implications throughout childhood. More specifically, physical activity has been found to be moderately stable from early childhood to middle childhood, whereas, over the same time period, moderate to large stability has been observed for sedentary behaviour. At present, only 15% of Canadian preschoolers (3-4-year-olds) meet both physical activity (⋝180 minutes/day of total physical activity, including ⋝60 minutes/day of energetic play) and screen time (⋜1 hour/day) recommendations, within 24-Hour Movement Guidelines. A similar pattern has been observed in a regional sample of toddlers in Edmonton, Canada. [Full article]

Authors

Valerie Carson (vlcarson@ualberta.ca) is with the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. Kellie Langlois and Rachel Colley are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.

 

What is already known on this subject?

  • Physical activity has numerous health benefits in early childhood, whereas excessive sedentary behaviour, particularly screen time, has unfavourable health implications.
  • Less than one in six Canadian preschoolers meet both the physical activity and screen time recommendations.
  • Parental correlates of sedentary behaviour and physical activity are especially important to consider in early childhood because young children have limited autonomy from their parents.
  • The importance of parental modeling on sedentary behaviour and physical activity in early childhood is unclear due to evidence gaps and limitations.

What does this study add?

  • Parent-child associations for sedentary behaviour and physical activity were observed among a representative sample of Canadian 3 to 5 year olds.
  • Higher parental moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity and light-intensity physical activity was associated with higher moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity and light-intensity physical activity among children.
  • Every additional hour of parental screen time and sedentary time was associated with approximately 8 minutes higher screen time and 7 minutes sedentary time among children, respectively.
  • Unlike older age groups, associations between parental sedentary behaviour and physical activity and children’s behaviours did not differ by day of the week (weekday versus weekend day), parental sex (mothers versus fathers), or child sex (sons versus daughters).

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