Maternal awareness of young children's physical activity: levels and cross-sectional correlates of overestimation.
BMC Public Health 2013
Griffin SJ, Van Sluijs EM, Cooper C, Godfrey KM, Harvey NC, Hesketh KR, Inskip HM, McMinn AM
DOI : 10.1186/1471-2458-13-924
URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-924
Abstract
Background: Factors associated with parental awareness of children's physical activity (PA) levels have not been explored in preschool-aged children. This paper investigates maternal awareness of preschool-aged children's PA levels and determined correlates associated with maternaloverestimation of PA. Methods: Data from the Southampton Women's Survey, a UK population-based study, were collected March 2006 through June 2009. Daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) were derived using accelerometry in 478 4-year-old children. Mothers who were realistic or overestimated their child's PA were identified. Log-binomial regression was used to analyse correlates of maternal overestimation of PA levels in children whose mothers perceived them to be active (n = 438). Results: 40.8% of children were classified as inactive: 89.7% of these were perceived to be active by their mothers (over-estimators). These mothers were more likely to think their child sometimes lacked skills required to be physically active (RR (95% CI) = 1.29(1.03-1.63)) and their child was more likely to attend nursery full-time (RR = 1.53(1.14-2.04)). They were less likely to have older children at home (RR = 0.71(0.56-0.90)). Conclusions: Almost 90% of mothers of inactive preschool-aged children perceive their child to be active. Nursery-school attendance and having older siblings at home may be important to consider when designing behavioural interventions to increase PA in preschool children.