Men's Physical Activity in Adolescence Predicts Their Physical Activity Parenting as Fathers

Area of Science:

• Adolescent health
• Parenting behaviors
• Public health

Background:

• Physical activity (PA) in adolescence is crucial for long-term health.
• Understanding factors influencing parental PA behaviors is important for child health.
• Men's historical PA patterns may influence their engagement in PA parenting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between men's historical adherence to physical activity (PA) guidelines during adolescence and their PA parenting practices as fathers.
• To identify distinct patterns of PA guideline adherence in adolescent males.
• To determine if these adolescent PA patterns predict supportive PA parenting behaviors in fatherhood.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal data from 565 fathers in the Fathers & Families study were analyzed.
• Men's PA patterns from adolescence (ages 10-24) were identified using sequence analysis and hierarchical clustering.
• Ordinal logistic regression examined associations between adolescent PA patterns and PA parenting practices in fathers of young children (ages 2-6).

Main Results:

• Four adolescent PA adherence patterns were identified: Consistently Sedentary (12.2%), Early Active (18.2%), Late Active (34.2%), and Consistently Active (35.4%).
• Men in the Late Active and Consistently Active groups had significantly higher odds of engaging in supportive PA parenting compared to the Consistently Sedentary group.
• No significant difference in PA parenting practices was found for the Early Active group compared to the Consistently Sedentary group.

Conclusions:

• Consistent or late-onset physical activity (PA) during adolescence is associated with more supportive PA parenting practices in fatherhood.
• Promoting PA in adolescent boys is important for fostering healthy behaviors in future generations.
• These findings support a preconception model for men's health, emphasizing lifelong PA habits.