Relation between Parent’s and Children’s Physical Activity in Urban Regions of North Greece

Christina Petraki, Vassiliki Derri, Stergios Gaintatzis, & Nikolaos Aggeloussis

Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to identify a) the relation between mother-child and father-child

physical activity, b) the effect of gender and age in the above relation, and c) the possibility to predict child’s physical activity through that of the mother and the father. Participants were, 139 fifth and sixth grade children,10 to 12 years of age (M=11.5,SD=0.6),and their parents. Physical activity of both parents and children was assessed with the Bouchard Three Day Physical Activity Record (Bouchard, 1997).Correlation analysis revealed a significant relation only between the mother’s and the child’s weekly energy expenditure (r=.29,p<.01).Therefore,the father’s physical activity did not account for the variance of children’s physical activity while mother’s physical activity accounted for the 8% of this variance (p<.01).Also, the total energy expenditure of girls (r=.33,p<.05) and older children (r=.27,p<.05)was related to that of their mother’s. It seems that children’s physical activity is related but not depended on the physical activity of their mother’s.

Key words: energy expenditure, socialization, social learning, elementary school children