Associations of Parental Influences with Physical Activity and Screen Time among Young Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Parents play a critical role in developing and shaping their children's physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours, particularly in the early years of life. The aim of this systematic review is to identify current literature investigating associations of parental influences with both PA and screen time in young children. This systematic review was conducted in November 2013 using 6 electronic databases covering research literature from January 1998 to November 2013. Thirty articles that met inclusion criteria were identified. These studies covered five important aspects of parenting: (1) parenting practices; (2) parents' role modelling; (3) parental perceptions of children's PA and screen viewing behaviours; (4) parental self-efficacy; and (5) general parenting style. Findings suggest that parents' encouragement and support can increase children's PA, and reducing parents' own screen time can lead to decreased child screen time. Improving parenting practices, parental self-efficacy or changing parenting style may also be promising approaches to increasing PA time and decreasing screen time of young children.

levels and sociodemographic correlates of accelerometer-based physical activity in Irish children: a cross-sectional study

“…Total screen time is recognised to predict lower levels of PA in children 43. Parents are recognised to have an important role in determining PA and sedentary behaviours of their children 44. Parents may support children to join some form of organised sports club or organisation, structured cultural activities, Youth Clubs and After-School Clubs 45.…”

Factors associated with objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time of 5–6-year-old children in the STEPS Study

“…However, there is little research in which these various factors associated with objectively measured PA have been included in the same study (Finn, Johannsen, & Specker, 2002). When it comes to parental influence through parents' own PA habits, a recent review (Xu, Wen, & Rissel, 2015) showed that parents' encouragement, support and role modelling could result in higher levels of their children's PA. Nevertheless, to the authors' knowledge, few studies have investigated objectively and simultaneously measured PA for preschool-aged children and their parents, showing positive but mainly weak associations between parental and child PA (Jago et al, 2014;Moore et al, 1991;Ruiz, Gesell, Buchowski, Lambert, & Barkin, 2011;Taylor et al, 2009).…”

Effects of the Application of Computer Network Technology to Guided Discovery Teaching on Learning Achievement and Outcome

“…Guo et al (2016) regarded guided teaching as the combination of leading organization and discovery learning for the synergistic effect that guided teaching was therefore generated. Xu, Wen, and Rissel (2015) explained that leading organization could cover new and old knowledge and provide the optimal cognitive anchorage at proper levels to establish subordinate and supervisor relationship between subsumers in new material concepts and learners' cognition structure. In other words, a cognitive bridge was built for meaningful learning to effectively enhance students' learning outcome.…”