How is parental activity related to children's physical activity behavior?

Objectives: Social support from parents is considered a primary influence of youth’ physical activity (PA; Beets, Cardinal & Alderman, 2010). However, the mechanisms of parental influence are still poorly understood. As the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) is a well-supported theoretical framework to study youth’ engaging in PA, this study wants to investigate if an increased PA of the parents is enhancing the PA of their children and is related to different constructs of the TPB. Method: 264 students (52,6% females) from 11 to 21 years participated in the study. Via a digital questionnaire the students indicated if they are active at least 60 minutes a day, if their mother and father is physically active on a regular basis and if they are active together with their parents. Regarding the TPB, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intentions towards PA were assessed (Hagger, Chatzisarantis, Culverhouse & Biddle, 2003). Results: A multivariate ANOVA revealed that children reported higher PA rates, more intense attitudes and higher subjective norms towards PA when the father was physically active and when being active together with their parents. However, the perceived behavioral control was higher when children indicated that their mother was physically active. Discussion: As expected, results suggest that the reported PA of parents are related to the self-reported PA of children, and furthermore to the different constructs of the TPB. Especially fathers seem to be an important role model regarding PA, attitudes and subjective norms toward PA