The Relationship Between Different Kinds Of Parental Support And Physical Activity Among Children And Adolescents In Shanghai

Background: Physical inactivity of children and adolescents has become a global public health problem,and the status of participating in physical activity among children and adolescents in China is not optimistic as well.It is important to explore the factors that influence physical activity among children and adolescents.The purposes of this study were: 1)to understand the basic situation of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among children and adolescents in Shanghai and the basic situation of different kinds of paternal support and maternal support;2)to explore the correlations between different kinds of paternal support and maternal support and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity(MVPA)of children and adolescents in Shanghai;and 3)to analyze the differences in the impacts of different kinds of paternal support and maternal support on MVPA among children and adolescents of different genders and grades.Methods: Using the literature review method to collect and sort the required documents and data on several domestic and foreign databases such as CNKI and WOS.Conducting questionnaire survey by using multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method,and in total,16 schools in Putuo District and Minhang District of Shanghai,3 semesters(primary,junior high,high school),7 grades(third to fifth grades,junior one,junior two,senior one and senior two),48 classes,1509 students were surveyed.The final questionnaire data of 1307 students(average age: 12.66 ± 2.78 years old,50.5% boys)were included in the analysis.Applying mathematical statistics method on SPSS 22.0 software,this study used descriptive statistics to report the basic situation of the study objects,and used chi-square test to compare the differences between variables of different gender and grade groups.By using Spearman correlation analysis,correlations between six different kinds of paternal/maternal support(including encouragement,observation,discussing benefits of physical activity,involvement,financial support,and role model)and the number of days on doing MVPA among children and adolescents were calculated,and the correlations between paternal/maternal support and meeting MVPA recommendation(meeting MVPA recommendation referred to doing at least 60 minutes of MVPA for 7 days in the last week)were calculated as well.Meeting MVPA recommendation by children and adolescents was used as the dependent variable,and different kinds of paternal support and maternal support were used as independent variables.Binary logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratio of meeting MVPA recommendation by groups that receiving high paternal support and maternal support,and gender and grade differences were calculated.Results: In terms of the basic situation of physical activity participation,16.8% of children and adolescents in Shanghai met MVPA recommendation.Boys were more physically active than girls(p <0.001),and the proportions decreased with the increase of the school periods(p <0.001).In terms of the basic situation of parental support,discussing benefits of physical activity was the most frequent kind of support that parents provided,while paternal involvement and maternal role model were the kinds of support that were most rarely provided.There were positive correlations between encouragement,observation,discussing benefits of physical activity,involvement,financial support,and role model of fathers and mothers and meeting MVPA recommendation by children and adolescents(paternal support: r = 0.167-0.219,all p <0.001;maternal support: r = 0.102-0.179,all p <0.001).In general,different kinds of paternal support and maternal support had positive effects on promoting MVPA among children and adolescents(paternal support: OR = 2.32-3.20,95% CI: 1.66-4.32;maternal support: OR = 1.87-2.74,95% CI: 1.35-3.69).For children and adolescents of different genders,different kinds of paternal support and maternal support had positive effects on the promotion of MVPA of boys(paternal support: OR = 2.44-3.51,95% CI: 1.57-5.25;maternal support: OR = 1.96-2.93,95% CI: 1.28-4.18).Maternal encouragement,maternal observation,maternal involvement,maternal financial support,and maternal role model had positive effects on girls' MVPA(OR = 1.79-2.73,95% CI: 1.07-4.44).For children and adolescents of different grades,only paternal observation had a positive impact on the promotion of MVPA of all grades(OR = 2.31-5.91,95% CI: 1.03-15.35),and inconsistent existed between other kinds of support from fathers or mothers and MVPA among children and adolescents.Conclusions: Children and adolescents in Shanghai of this study have insufficient physical activity.Various kinds of support from fathers or mothers have positive impacts on the promotion of MVPA among children and adolescents.For children and adolescents of different genders and grades,the effects of different kinds of paternal support and maternal support are inconsistent.Future interventions require targeted physical activity promotion strategies for children and adolescents of different genders and grades.