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Parental education and physical activity in pre-school children
S Vale1, N Ricardo, L Soares-Miranda
1Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Insights
Parental education level inversely impacts preschool children's physical activity. Children with highly educated parents were less active and less likely to meet physical activity guidelines.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Sports Science
Background:
- Objective assessment of preschool children's physical activity (PA) is crucial.
- Understanding PA patterns and guideline compliance in early childhood is essential for long-term health.
- Investigating the influence of socioeconomic factors, such as parental education, on children's PA is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To objectively evaluate total physical activity (TPA) patterns in preschool children.
- To assess compliance with established physical activity guidelines.
- To examine the relationship between parental education levels and children's physical activity.
Main Methods:
- A sample of 509 healthy preschool children (aged 3-6 years) from Porto, Portugal, participated.
- Physical activity was measured over 7 consecutive days using accelerometry.
- Total physical activity (TPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were assessed against National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) guidelines.
Main Results:
- Children of parents with higher education levels exhibited lower PA levels compared to those with lower or middle education (P ≤ 0.001).
- A majority of children from low and middle parental education backgrounds met TPA guidelines during weekdays.
- Over half of children from high parental education backgrounds did not meet TPA (P ≤ 0.001) or MVPA (P ≤ 0.05) recommendations.
Conclusions:
- Parental education level demonstrated a negative association with children's daily physical activity.
- Children from lower parental education backgrounds were twice as likely to meet PA guidelines compared to those from high parental education backgrounds.
- These findings highlight the socioeconomic disparities in preschool children's physical activity and adherence to health recommendations.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to objectively assess pre-school children's total physical activity (TPA) patterns and compliance with guidelines and to examine differences relative to parental education.
Methods:
The sample consisted on 509 healthy pre-school children, aged 3-6 years recruited from kindergartens located in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. The PA was assessed for 7 consecutive days by accelerometry. For TPA, we followed the guidelines of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) (children who spent at least >120 min per day in active play). For TPA, we calculated the proportion of children who spent at least >120 min per day in active play and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), we calculated the proportion of children who spent at least >60 min per day in active play. Parental education was analysed according to the Portuguese education system.
Results:
Children with parents in the highest education level were less active than children from low and middle education level (P ≤ 0.001) in all patterns of PA (week and weekend). Regarding TPA during the week we found that the majority of children from low and middle parental education meet the NASPE guidelines. On the other hand, more than half the children from high parental education did not meet these recommendations (P ≤ 0.001) and MVPA recommendations (P ≤ 0.05). In both recommendations, children from low parental education were twice more likely to meet the recommendations compared with children belonging to high parental education.
Conclusion:
Parent education was negatively associated with children's daily physical activity patterns and compliance with guidelines.
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