The Association between Adult Sport, Fitness, and Recreational Physical Activity and Number and Age of Children Present in the Household: A Secondary Analysis Using NHANES. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2023 May 24;20(11)
Date
06/10/2023Pubmed ID
37297546Pubmed Central ID
PMC10253130DOI
10.3390/ijerph20115942Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85163065065 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)Abstract
Only one in three adults in the United States meets the weekly recommendation for physical activity (PA). The presence of children in the home may restrict adult PA. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between adult moderate and vigorous sport, fitness, and recreational physical activities and the number and age (0-5 and 6-17) of children in their household. Secondary data were drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007-2016. Adults with complete survey data for self-reported moderate (MPA) and vigorous physical activities (VPA), number of children in the home, and other sociodemographic variables were included. The final sample included 2034 adults from 22-65 years of age. Analyses included ANOVAs and separate multivariable regression analyses to determine if the number of children in the household aged 0-5 and 6-17 were significant predictors of weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) after controlling for covariates. For MPA, no differences were found between adult PA regardless of the number and age of children in the home. For VPA, adults with two or more children aged 0-5 reported 80 fewer minutes of weekly VPA (p < 0.05) compared to those with no children or just one child in this age group after controlling for all covariates. Finally, adults with three or more children in the household aged 6-17 reported fifty fewer minutes of weekly VPA (p < 0.05) compared to those with no children, one, or just two in the household. These findings highlight a need to support the vigorous PA behaviors of this population, as the majority of the family-based PA intervention studies to date have primarily focused on family dyads.
Author List
Johnson JL, Coleman A, Kwarteng JL, Holmes AU, Kermah D, Bruce MA, Beech BMAuthor
Jamila L. Kwarteng PhD Assistant Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Child
Child, Preschool
Exercise
Humans
Infant
Middle Aged
Nutrition Surveys
Physical Fitness
Sports
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult
