The Experimental Effect of Parental Attentiveness on Children’s Physical Activity Behavior

Abstract

OBJECTIVES To assess children’s physical and sedentary activity behavior, enjoyment (i.e., liking), and preference during two separate experimental conditions: parent attentive and parent non-attentive.METHODS Ten children (n = 6 boys, 4 girls), 3 to 6 years old, along with one parent (n = 6 mothers, 4 fathers) per child participated in each condition on separate days for 30-minutes in which they could choose from a variety of physical and/or sedentary activities.RESULTS A greater number of accelerometer counts (p = 0.04) were accumulated during the parent attentive (96,547 ± 33,075.26 counts) condition than the parent non-attentive (48,316.30 ± 46,101.47 counts) condition. More time (p = 0.007) was allocated to sedentary activities during the parent non-attentive (19.5 ± 13.3 minutes) condition than parent attentive (2.8 ± 3.55 minutes) condition. Children liked (p = 0.004) the parent attentive (9.05 ± 1.21 cm) condition more than parent non-attentive (4.42 ± 3.18 cm) condition. A non-significant (p = 0.21) proportion of children identified the parent attentive (70%) as their preferred condition over the parent non-attentive condition.CONCLUSIONS Parental attentiveness may be an important component to take into consideration when trying to maximize children’s physical activity behavior and enjoyment while simultaneously reducing sedentary behavior.