Many children do not realize the physical health, mental health, cognitive, and academic benefits of physical activity because they are insufficiently active. Effectively promoting physical activity in children requires understanding the determinants of physical activity. Parent physical activity and support for physical activity have emerged as central influences, but few studies have applied longitudinal designs and device-based measures of child physical activity. The purposes of this cohort study were to examine direct associations between parent physical activity and child physical activity, parent physical activity and parent support for physical activity, and parent support and child physical activity; and to examine indirect associations between parent physical activity and child physical activity, mediated through parent support behaviors. We used structural equation modeling with panel analysis to examine direct and indirect influences of parent physical activity and support on 7th grade children’s physical activity, adjusted for 5th grade levels. Parent surveys were administered at the 5th grade time-point. Parent physical activity indirectly affected child physical activity, mediated through the parent support behavior of providing transportation for physical activity. Parent physical activity was also directly related to four parent support behaviors. Increasing parent support for child physical activity, and possibly parent physical activity, may be effective approaches to increasing child physical activity.

许多孩子因为活动不够而没有意识到体育活动对身体健康、心理健康、认知和学业的好处。有效促进儿童的身体活动需要了解身体活动的决定因素。父母的身体活动和对身体活动的支持已成为核心影响因素，但很少有研究应用纵向设计和基于设备的儿童身体活动测量。这项队列研究的目的是检查父母身体活动与儿童身体活动、父母身体活动与父母对身体活动的支持以及父母支持与儿童身体活动之间的直接关联；并检查通过父母支持行为介导的父母身体活动和儿童身体活动之间的间接关联。我们使用结构方程模型和面板分析来检查家长体育活动和支持对七年级儿童体育活动的直接和间接影响，并根据五年级水平进行调整。家长调查是在五年级的时间点进行的。父母的身体活动间接影响孩子的身体活动，通过父母为身体活动提供交通的支持行为来调节。父母的体力活动也与四种父母支持行为直接相关。增加家长对儿童体育活动的支持，以及可能的家长体育活动，可能是增加儿童体育活动的有效方法。