The Effects of Parental Socioeconomic Status on Children’ Physical Activity: Mediating Role of Motivation

Background: An important determinant of health and wellbeing is socioeconomic status as it can influence an individual’s exposure to several risk factors across the lifespan. Previous studies, using the self-report scales, have demonstrated that parental socioeconomic status is associated with physical activity in children. However, due to limitations of self-reporting methods, we aimed to assess the association between the parental socioeconomic statuses with accelerometer-measured physical activity among children. Motivation was included as a mediator. Method: 126 participants (45 girls, mean age of 10.92±1.89 years) wore the accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Parental socioeconomic status was measured by two items, namely, the parents’ education level and household income. The Intrinsic Motivation Scale was applied to measure motivation. Structural equation modeling was performed to analyze data. Results: 74% of our sample was at medium level of parental socioeconomic status. Accelerometer data demonstrated that children spent 74.29% of the total time in sedentary behaviors, 17.20% in light physical activity, and 8.81% in Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA). On average, the daily time spent in MVPA was 45.19 minutes, which is below the WHO guideline. In fact, 27.7% (n=35) of children fulfilled the guideline. The results showed that parental socioeconomic status had significant effects on motivation (T=4.129) and MVPA (T=5.097). Moreover, motivation had a significant effect on MVPA (T=2.679). Finally, motivation significantly mediated the association between socioeconomic status and MVPA (P<0.001). Conclusion: As demonstrated in the findings, the socioeconomic statuses of parents and physical activity have become critical concerns about children. Accordingly, in order to increase the level of MVPA among children, large scale programs should be developed by the stakeholders to increase the parents’ socioeconomic status level.

کلیدواژه های The Effects of Parental Socioeconomic Status on Children’ Physical Activity: Mediating Role of Motivation:

Children ، Socioeconomic status ، Physical Activity ، Motivation ، accelerometer