PARENTAL CORRELATES OF SELF-REPORTED PHYSICAL LITERACY AMONG GIRLS

Jamie Henning1, Johanna Hoch1, Rachel Kleis2, Molly Taylor1, Deirdre Dlugonski1. 1University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. 2University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI. Overweight and obese youth are at an increased risk of developing chronic health diseases. Physical literacy, a holistic construct, includes one\u27s knowledge, motivation, confidence, and competence to be physically active. It has been associated with positive health behaviors among children. Understanding the relationship between parent beliefs and child physical literacy may lead to more effective interventions that combat childhood obesity. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among family obesogenic environments, parent perception of their child’s physical literacy, and child’s self-reported physical literacy. Parents (N=52) from one Kentucky elementary school completed surveys through REDCap regarding demographics, health behaviors, parent perception of child physical literacy (PLAYparent), and parent evaluation of obesogenic environments (Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Screening Tool). Children completed a physical literacy survey (PLAYself) during school hours with aid from the research team. Parent-child dyads with completed data (N=34) were included. Relationships among PLAYparent, PLAYself, and family obesogenic environments were examined using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient. Parent participants were aged 36.9±5.5 years, while children were aged 6.4±1.0 years. Parents were primarily mothers (91.2%), married (73%), college-educated (85%), Caucasian (67%), employed (79%), with an annual household income of $75,000 or more (56%). There was a statistically significant relationship between family obesogenic environment and parent-perceived child physical literacy (r=0.35, p=0.049). There was no significant relationship between family obesogenic environments and child-perceived physical literacy (r=0.04, p=0.84) or between child- and parent-perceived physical literacy (r =-0.21, p=0.23). Findings suggest that parents\u27 perception of their child\u27s physical literacy is related to their understanding of the family\u27s overall obesogenic environment. However, the child’s self-reported physical literacy was not associated with parental perceptions of the family\u27s obesogenic environment or parent perceptions of the child’s ability, confidence, and motivation to be physically active. Children may not have an accurate impression of their own physical literacy, while parents may not understand their child’s literacy. Future research should utilize objective measures of physical literacy