Physical activity in young children and their parents–An Early STOPP Sweden–China comparison study

Abstract

Understanding about socio-cultural differences in physical activity in children with high and low risk for obesity can help tailor intervention programs in different settings. This study aimed to compare objectively measured physical activity in two-year-olds and their parents, living in Stockholm, Sweden, and Wuhan, China. Data from Early STOPP was used. Children and parents wore an accelerometer in connection with the child’s second birthday. Weekly and hourly patterns were examined. Correlation between child and parental physical activity was assessed. Data on 146 Swedish and 79 Chinese children and their parents was available. Children, mothers and fathers in Stockholm were significantly more active than their counterparts in Wuhan (children; 2989 (SD 702) vs. 1997 (SD 899) counts per minute (CPM), mothers 2625 (SD 752) vs. 2042 (SD 821) CPM; fathers 2233 (SD 749) vs. 1588 (SD 754) CPM). Activity levels were similar over a week for children and parents within both countries. No parental-child correlations, except for a paternal-son correlation in Stockholm, were found. Children, mothers and fathers in Stockholm are more active compared with their counterparts in Wuhan. Interventions to increase physical activity needs to take cultural aspects into account, also when targeting very young children.

Physical activity practice and sports preferences in a group of Spanish schoolchildren depending on sex and parental care: a gender perspective

“…Nevertheless, disparities have been found in the literature in this respect. For example, the results described by Rodrigues et al [15], as well as those described by Fuemmeler et al [52], showed that children were more likely to engage in physical activity if both parents or the parent who shared sex with them was active, whereas other studies revealed results more similar to those found in our research, showing a greater relationship between the physical activity of the child and the influence of the father [53,54]. This fact reinforces the theory that physical activity is culturally assumed as a masculine domain.…”

Impact of parents’ physical activity on preschool children’s physical activity: a cross-sectional study

“…We also did not take into account differences in the duration of daytime vs. nighttime interaction between parents and children on weekdays. Such work has been reported ( Fuemmeler, Anderson & Masse, 2011 ; Johansson et al, 2016 ), but comparing that work to ours is difficult and potentially misleading because of substantial differences in the subjects and in mediating factors present.…”

Infants’ and toddlers’ physical activity and sedentary time as measured by accelerometry: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In cases where more than one article presented baseline data on the same sample of children (Melbourne InFANT Program [23], GET UP! [24], POI [25], IDEFICS [26], Generation R [27], Early STOPP [28], and PREPS [29]), the article with the largest sample size and/or most accurately reflected full day movement behaviours was included.…”

“…Studies were conducted in 16 different countries, including 8 in the United States [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43], 4 in Canada [29,[44][45][46] and Australia [23,24,47,48], 2 in China [28,49] and Sweden [26,28], and 1 in Belgium [26], Estonia [26], Germany [26], Hungary [26], Italy [26], Malawi [50], the Netherlands [27], New Zealand [25], Spain [26], Switzerland [33], and Taiwan [51] (note that one study was conducted in both China and Sweden [28] and one study was conducted in Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Sweden [26]). The mean sample size of included studies was 142 children (range = 7 to 568), and all studies were published in 2011 or later (88% since 2015).…”