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Perspectives of infant active play: a qualitative comparison of working versus stay-at-home parents

Kailey Snyder1, John P Rech2, Kim Masuda3

  • 1School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE, 68178, USA. KaileySnyder@Creighton.edu.

BMC Public Health
|January 31, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Parental working status influences perceptions of infant active play and development. Stay-at-home parents noted broader impacts, while working parents focused on physical development, with time being a common barrier for both.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Parental Behavior
  • Early Childhood Education

Background:

  • Parental interactions and environment are crucial for infant development and active play.
  • Parental working status impacts time available for infant interaction, yet perceptions of active play by working status are understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore parent perceptions of infant active play.
  • To compare these perceptions between working and stay-at-home parents.

Main Methods:

  • Qualitative study with 29 parents using semi-structured interviews.
  • Analysis based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and directed content analysis by parental working status.

Main Results:

  • All parents recognized active play's benefits across physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and language domains.
  • Stay-at-home parents perceived broader impacts; working parents emphasized physical development.
  • Common barriers included time, infant care needs, environment, and restrictive devices; working parents desired more healthcare provider advice.

Conclusions:

  • Parental working status appears to affect perceptions of active play, potentially influencing infant development.
  • Further research should objectively assess the impact of parental working status on infant development.
  • Investigating gender as a potential confounding variable is recommended for future studies.
Abstract

Keywords:
Active playInfantParentPhysical activityStay-at-home motherWorking mother

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