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Do parenting practices moderate the association between the physical neighbourhood environment and changes in
Sanne M P L Gerards1, Dave H H Van Kann2,3, Stef P J Kremers2
1Department of Health Promotion, Nutrition and Translational Research Institute Maastricht (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, Maastricht, MD, 6200, The Netherlands. sanne.gerards@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics and Child Health
- Environmental Health
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Many children do not meet recommended daily physical activity (PA) levels, highlighting the need to understand environmental influences.
- Investigating the interplay between the physical environment, parenting practices, and children's PA is crucial for public health initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how the physical environment and parenting practices impact changes in children's weekday physical activity levels over 18 months.
- To determine if parenting practices moderate the relationship between the physical neighborhood environment and changes in children's physical activity.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from 240 children aged 8-12 years, collected at three time points.
- Physical activity measured via accelerometry; physical environment assessed through neighborhood audits; parenting practices via validated questionnaires.
- Multivariate multilevel regression analyses and stratified analyses were used to assess main effects and moderation.
Main Results:
- Neighborhood walkability was associated with a decrease in sedentary behavior (SB).
- Parenting practice of logistic support positively influenced moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and decreased SB.
- Favorable parenting practices amplified the positive effects of physical environmental features, such as sports facilities, on children's PA levels.
Conclusions:
- Both the physical environment (walkability) and parenting practices (logistic support) significantly influence children's physical activity patterns.
- Parenting practices play a moderating role in the association between the physical environment and children's physical activity.
- Findings suggest that interventions should consider both environmental and family-based strategies to promote children's physical activity.
Background:
As many children do not meet the recommended daily physical activity (PA) levels, more research is needed towards environmental determinants of children's PA levels. The aims of this longitudinal study were to investigate whether the physical environment and parenting practices have an impact on changes in children's weekday time spent at various PA levels and whether associations between physical neighbourhood environment and changes in children's PA are moderated by parenting practices.
Methods:
We performed a secondary data analysis of longitudinal data collected at three timepoints (baseline, 6, and 18 months) from 10 control schools of the Active Living study, a quasi-experimental study, which took place in South Limburg, the Netherlands. In total, 240 children aged 8-12 years were included in the analyses. PA levels were measured using accelerometry (ActiGraph GT3X+). The physical environment was assessed at baseline through neighbourhood audits of the school environment, and PA parenting practices were measured at baseline via validated parental questionnaires. Multivariate multilevel regression analyses were conducted to determine the main effects of the physical environment and parenting practices on changes in children's time spent in sedentary behaviour (SB), light PA and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) over 18 months. Additionally, moderation of the association between the physical environment and children's PA levels by parenting practices was examined by adding interacting terms to the regression equations.
Results:
Walkability of the physical environmental was associated with a decrease in SB at 18 months (B = -5.45, p < .05). In addition, the parenting practice logistic support was associated with an increase in MVPA (at all time points, B = .68, B = .73 and B = 1.02, respectively, all p < .05) and a decrease in SB (at 18 months, B = -1.71, p < .05). Stratified analyses (based on significant interaction terms) showed that the effect of specific physical environmental features (e.g., sports facilities) on children's improvements in PA levels were strengthened by favourable parenting practices.
Discussion:
Besides the main effects of walkability and logistic support, there were indications that several parenting practices moderate the association between the physical environment and changes in children's time in various PA levels. The current findings are exploratory, and need to be confirmed in further research.
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