The Relationship Between Physical Activity Level of Parents and That of Their Adolescent Children

• DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2017-0123
• Publication Date: 2018-04-28T12:34:18Z
• Authors: Hyo Jung Yoon; Sang Ah Lee; Young Jun Ju; Jin Young Nam; Eun-Cheol Park
• Keywords: Male; Parents; Adolescent; Health Promotion; 613; Middle Aged; Nutrition Surveys; physical activity intervention; 301; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; intergenerational transmission; MVPA; South Korea; Intergenerational Relations; Republic of Korea; Humans; Female; Child; Exercise

Intergenerational transmission, which refers to the similarity between parent and their children, is a possible explanation of adolescent physical activity (PA). However, only a few existing studies explore the relationship of parent-adolescent PA in East Asian countries. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of parent-adolescent PA using a nationally representative data in Korea with a large sample size.Data were collected from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2010 to 2014. The authors performed a linear mixed effects regression analysis with 1342 cases after using log conversion of parent and adolescent moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) levels.In the study, the median MVPA of adolescents was 150 (interquartile range: 360) minutes per week. Adolescent MVPA levels were significantly correlated with their mother's MVPA (β = 0.055, P = .02). Similar findings of greater association in girls and younger adolescents (age: 13-15 y) were found in subgroup analysis (girls: β = 0.073, P = .05; younger adolescents: β = 0.103, P = .001).Increasing maternal PA levels could stimulate their adolescent's PA levels. Therefore, intervention at the family level may lead to an increase in adolescent PA levels.