What Hispanic parents do to encourage and discourage 3-5 year old children to be active: a qualitative study using nominal group technique

PurposeHispanic preschoolers are less active than their non-Hispanic peers. As part of a feasibility study to assess environmental and parenting influences on preschooler physical activity (PA) (Niños Activos), the aim of this study was to identify what parents do to encourage or discourage PA among Hispanic 3-5 year old children to inform the development of a new PA parenting practice instrument and future interventions to increase PA among Hispanic youth.MethodsNominal Group Technique (NGT), a structured multi-step group procedure, was used to elicit and prioritize responses from 10 groups of Hispanic parents regarding what parents do to encourage (5 groups) or discourage (5 groups) preschool aged children to be active. Five groups consisted of parents with low education (less than high school) and 5 with high education (high school or greater) distributed between the two NGT questions.ResultsTen NGT groups (n = 74, range 4-11/group) generated 20-46 and 42-69 responses/group for practices that encourage or discourage PA respectively. Eight to 18 responses/group were elected as the most likely to encourage or discourage PA. Parental engagement in child activities, modeling PA, and feeding the child well were identified as parenting practices that encourage child PA. Allowing TV and videogame use, psychological control, physical or emotional abuse, and lack of parental engagement emerged as parenting practices that discourage children from being active. There were few differences in the pattern of responses by education level.ConclusionsParents identified ways they encourage and discourage 3-5 year-olds from PA, suggesting both are important targets for interventions. These will inform the development of a new PA parenting practice scale to be further evaluated. Further research should explore the role parents play in discouraging child PA, especially in using psychological control or submitting children to abuse, which were new findings in this study.

[1]  M. Greaney,et al.  Influence of Social Context on Eating, Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviors of Latina Mothers and Their Preschool-Age Children , 2009, Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education.

[2]  R. Shewchuk,et al.  Attributes of an ideal continuing medical education institution identified through nominal group technique , 2005, The Journal of continuing education in the health professions.

[3]  A. Okely,et al.  Preschool children and physical activity: a review of correlates. , 2008, American journal of preventive medicine.

[4]  Bradley J. Cardinal,et al.  Parental Social Support and the Physical Activity-Related Behaviors of Youth: A Review , 2010, Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education.

[5]  B. Barber.  Parental psychological control: revisiting a neglected construct. , 1996, Child development.

[6]  R. Klesges,et al.  The effects of parental influences on children's food intake, physical activity, and relative weight , 1986 .

[7]  R. Miles.  Neighborhood disorder, perceived safety, and readiness to encourage use of local playgrounds. , 2008, American journal of preventive medicine.

[8]  J. Sallis,et al.  Anglo- and Mexican‐American Preschoolers at Home and at Recess: Activity Patterns and Environmental Influences , 1992, Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP.

[9]  K. Flegal,et al.  Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. , 2012, JAMA.

[10]  E. Vernberg,et al.  Parenting style of Mexican, Mexican American, and Caucasian-non-Hispanic families: social context and cultural influences. , 2004, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[11]  Rachel M. Ruiz,et al.  The Relationship Between Hispanic Parents and Their Preschool-Aged Children's Physical Activity , 2011, Pediatrics.

[12]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  The Effectiveness of Nominal, Delphi, and Interacting Group Decision Making Processes , 1974 .

[13]  R. Shewchuk,et al.  Child temperament, parent emotions, and perceptions of the child’s feeding experience , 2012, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

[14]  S. Trost,et al.  Parental influences on physical activity behavior in preschool children. , 2010, Preventive medicine.

[15]  Ann MacPhail,et al.  Nominal Group Technique: a useful method for working with young people , 2001 .

[16]  David H. Gustafson,et al.  Group Techniques for Program Planning: A Guide to Nominal Group and Delphi Processes , 1976 .

[17]  P. Freedson,et al.  Correlates of Vigorous Physical Activity for Children in Grades 1 Through 12: Comparing Parent-Reported and Objectively Measured Physical Activity , 2002 .

[18]  Deborah I Thompson,et al.  Sedentary Behavior, Not TV Viewing, Predicts Physical Activity Among 3- to 7-Year-Old Children , 2005 .

[19]  N. Darling,et al.  Parenting Style as Context: An Integrative Model , 1993 .

[20]  B. Tinsley,et al.  Parental socialization of child and adolescent physical activity: a meta-analysis. , 2007, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[21]  R. Shewchuk,et al.  Cognitive mapping tobacco control advice for dentistry: a dental PBRN study. , 2011, American journal of health behavior.

[22]  M. Kenney.  Child, Family, and Neighborhood Associations with Parent and Peer Interactive Play During Early Childhood , 2012, Maternal and Child Health Journal.

[23]  J. Jacobson,et al.  Is the Environment Near Home and School Associated with Physical Activity and Adiposity of Urban Preschool Children? , 2011, Journal of Urban Health.

[24]  R. Cooper.  The impact of child abuse on children's play: a conceptual model , 2000 .

[25]  T. Patterson,et al.  Family Variables and Physical Activity in Preschool Children , 1988, Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP.

[26]  J F Sallis,et al.  Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children. , 1993, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[27]  R. Klesges,et al.  Effects of obesity, social interactions, and physical environment on physical activity in preschoolers. , 1990, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[28]  T. Gorely,et al.  Activity-related parenting practices and children's objectively measured physical activity. , 2010, Pediatric exercise science.

[29]  L. Birch,et al.  Psychobiology and Behavioral Strategies Parents ’ Activity-Related Parenting Practices Predict Girls ’ Physical Activity , 2003 .

[30]  S. Gordon,et al.  The Nominal Group Technique: A useful concensus methodology in physiotherapy research , 2004 .

[31]  L. Francis,et al.  Generation, language, body mass index, and activity patterns in Hispanic children. , 2010, American journal of preventive medicine.

[32]  J. Harper.  Children's play: the differential effects of intrafamilial physical and sexual abuse. , 1991, International Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect.

[33]  Stewart G. Trost,et al.  Parental Influences on Physical Activity Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Brief Review , 2011 .

[34]  Sandra E. Larios,et al.  Development and validation of a scale to measure Latino parenting strategies related to children’s obesigenic behaviors. The parenting strategies for eating and activity scale (PEAS) , 2009, Appetite.

[35]  J. Ard,et al.  Use of the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) to understand the perceptions of the healthiness of foods associated with African Americans. , 2010, Evaluation and program planning.