Parenting Styles and Their Relationship to the Physical Activity Levels of Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Introduction: Young children spend a significant amount of time with their parents. This makes it important to investigate parent and child physical activity levels and the relationship that parenting styles have with child physical activity levels. Purpose: The purposes of this study were: (a) to compare maternal and paternal parenting styles and practices, and (b) examine relationships among maternal and paternal parenting styles and child physical activity. Methods: Nine family triads consisting of a mother, father, and child between the ages of 2-5 years old were recruited from the Greenville area. The mothers and fathers separately completed the Parenting Dimensions Inventory-Short and a physical activity parenting style questionnaire. Actigraph (GT3X) accelerometers were worn by each member of the triad for seven days to objectively measure physical activity and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was calculated. Results: Mothers and fathers exhibited similarities in all parenting styles, authoritarian (3.47±.61, 3.39±.38, respectively), authoritative (3.74±.51, 3.81±.50, respectively), and permissive (3.91±.5, 3.5±.33, respectively) (p >.05). The relationship between paternal parenting style and child MVPA was not statistically significant across all three parenting styles, except for permissive: authoritarian (r = -.11), authoritative (r = -.26), and permissive (r = -.70, p<.05). Out of the many parenting practices, the only one that was significantly different between mothers and fathers was nurturance, in which mothers were more nurturing than fathers (p<.05). Few parenting practices were found to be significantly and positively related to child MVPA: maternal follow through, maternal reinforcement, paternal limit setting, and paternal organization (p<.05). Conclusions: Mothers and fathers within the same triad exhibited similar characteristics across both parenting styles and practices. Parenting style was not found to be found significantly related to child MVPA; however, a few parenting practices were associated with higher levels of MVPA in preschool aged children.