Do fit kids have fit parents?

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Human Kinetics
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Physical fitness is a key health indicator for children and adults.
• Understanding the intergenerational transmission of physical fitness is crucial for public health strategies.
• Child-parent relationships in physical fitness are under-examined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the associations between child and parent physical fitness measures.
• To investigate how cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and flexibility correlate within child-parent dyads.
• To explore variations in these associations based on the sex of the child and parent.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from three cycles of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (2007-2017).
• Included biological child-parent dyads with measured physical fitness components: cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular strength, and flexibility.
• Employed descriptive, correlation, and regression analyses to examine dyadic relationships.

Main Results:

• Weak to moderate correlations were found between child and parent measures for CRF (R=0.12), muscular strength (R=0.23), and flexibility (R=0.22).
• Positive associations were confirmed via regression analyses for all fitness components (p<0.05).
• Specific associations varied by dyad type: CRF in mother-son dyads; muscular strength in all but father-son dyads; flexibility in mother-son and father-son dyads.

Conclusions:

• A significant positive association exists between parent and child physical fitness.
• The strength and presence of these associations are influenced by the specific fitness component and the sex of the parent and child.
• Findings highlight the potential for familial influence on children's physical fitness trajectories.