Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children.

TLDR

The study examined 22 potential correlates of preschool children’s physical activity. Researchers directly observed 4‑hour evening sessions on four visits for 347 4‑year‑old children from Mexican‑American and Anglo‑American families. Anglo‑American and male preschoolers were more active; demographics explained 11% of activity variance, and five environmental factors (e.g., outdoor time, prompts) added another 11% of variance, while other child, demographic, and social‑family variables had no additional effect.

Abstract

Twenty-two potential correlates of children's physical activity were examined. Two hundred and one Mexican-American and 146 Anglo-American families with 4-year-old children were studied. Children's physical activity was directly observed in the evening at home on 4 visits for 1 hr each time. Anglo-American children and male children were found to be more active. Demographic variables explained 11% of the variance in children's physical activity. After adjusting for demographics, 3 children's variables and 6 social-family variables did not account for significantly more variance. Five environmental variables accounted for 11% additional variance. Variables observed concurrently with physical activity, such as time spent outdoors and prompts to be active, were highly associated with children's physical activity.