Peer-reviewed article
Moderate and vigorous physical activity show intensity specific familial and interpersonal association patterns in 9–12-year-olds: A cross-sectional DE-PASS study
Ferreira F, Dowd K, Coffey A, Cardon G, Iliano E et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how physical activity patterns differ between children aged 9-12 years and their parents, and how support from family, peers, and teachers relates to children's activity levels. The researchers found that moderate-intensity activity showed stronger family connections than vigorous-intensity activity, while peer and teacher support had limited associations with children's physical activity. The findings suggest that family-based approaches may be more effective for encouraging moderate activity in children.
Key points
- Parent-child resemblance in physical activity was numerically larger for moderate-intensity activity than vigorous-intensity activity
- Parental co-participation support showed a weak positive association with children's moderate-intensity activity
- Peer and teacher support showed limited or no associations with children's activity at either intensity level
- Sex-stratified analyses showed similar moderate-intensity associations across boys and girls, but vigorous-intensity associations were not observed among girls
- Combining moderate and vigorous activity into a single measure may mask these intensity-specific association patterns
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study, so it cannot establish causation or direction of effects. The data comes primarily from one European country, which may limit generalisability to other regions.
Abstract
Background: Research on children’s physical activity often examines interpersonal associations but commonly aggregates MPA and VPA into a single MVPA outcome. This approach may obscure intensity-specific association patterns, particularly in intergenerational analyses. Methods This cross-sectional study used harmonized data from the European DE-PASS project, including children aged 9–12 years and one of their parents. Waist-worn accelerometry was used to assess MPA and VPA. Perceived parental, peer, and teacher support were measured using validated questionnaires. Intensity-specific associations between parent and child physical activity and between interpersonal support variables and children’s activity were examined, including sex-stratified and socioeconomic sensitivity analyses. Results Parent–child associations differed by activity intensity. Parent–child resemblance was numerically larger for MPA than for VPA, although the difference between intensities was not statistically significant when formally compared; associations involving VPA were weaker and less consistent. Parental co-participation support showed a weak positive association (which did not survive correction for multiple testing) with children’s MPA, whereas peer and teacher support showed limited or no associations with children’s activity at either intensity. Sex-stratified analyses indicated similar MPA associations across boys and girls, while associations for VPA were not observed among girls. Aggregating MPA and VPA into MVPA may obscure these intensity-specific patterns. Conclusions These findings indicate that interpersonal associations with children’s physical activity differ by intensity and support examining MPA and VPA as intensity-specific outcomes in intergenerational analyses. Family-based approaches focusing on MPA may represent a pausible direction for future longitudinal and intervention research, while different strategies may be needed to address VPA.