Departments of Kinesiology, 266 Recreation Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2009 Dec 9;6:90. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-6-90.
Parents play an important role in the development of children's health behaviors, but less is known about the role of parental encouragement for physical activity (PA) on youth PA behavior and body image satisfaction. The purposes of this study were to: (1) longitudinally assess whether adolescent PA at age 15 mediates the effect of perceived parental encouragement for PA at age 15 for predicting adolescent body satisfaction at age 16, while controlling for body mass index (BMI), and (2) examine the extent to which adolescent sex moderates this association.
Participants were 379 boys and girls assessed at 15 and 16 years of age, who completed surveys as part of a larger longitudinal study in their health/physical education classes in a school district in Central Pennsylvania. Participants completed measures of their perception of parental encouragement for PA, PA behavior, body satisfaction, and height and weight to calculate BMI at age 15 and 16 (i.e., 10th and 11th grades). Pearson correlations were used to examine the association among the study variables and hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict body satisfaction at age 16.
Perceived encouragement for PA from fathers, but not mothers, at age 15, was significantly associated with adolescent PA at age 15 and body satisfaction scores at age 16. Adolescents reporting higher PA behavior and perceived encouragement for PA from fathers at age 15 had higher body satisfaction scores at age 16. Moreover, adolescent PA at age 15 mediated the association between perceived fathers' encouragement for PA at age 15 and adolescent body satisfaction at age 16, when controlling for BMI. Examining the moderating effect of adolescent sex on this association revealed that adolescent PA no longer mediated the association between perceived encouragement for PA from fathers and adolescent body satisfaction, and sex moderated this association.
These findings suggest that, regardless of adolescent BMI, fathers may play an instrumental role in adolescents' body image satisfaction by positively influencing PA behavior. However, the influence of perceived encouragement for PA from fathers on adolescent body satisfaction and PA behavior may differ for boys and girls.
父母在儿童健康行为的发展中起着重要作用，但对于父母对体育活动的鼓励对青少年体育活动行为和身体形象满意度的影响知之甚少。本研究的目的是：（1）纵向评估青少年在 15 岁时的体育活动是否在父母对体育活动的感知鼓励对青少年在 16 岁时的身体满意度的预测中起中介作用，同时控制体重指数（BMI）；（2）检验青少年性别在多大程度上调节这种关联。
参与者为 379 名男孩和女孩，他们在宾夕法尼亚州中部一个学区的健康/体育教育课上完成了调查，作为一项更大的纵向研究的一部分，他们在 15 岁和 16 岁时完成了对父母鼓励体育活动的感知、体育活动行为、身体满意度以及身高和体重的测量，以计算 15 岁和 16 岁时的 BMI（即 10 年级和 11 年级）。Pearson 相关系数用于检验研究变量之间的关联，分层回归分析用于预测 16 岁时的身体满意度。
父亲在 15 岁时对体育活动的感知鼓励，但不是母亲，与青少年在 15 岁时的体育活动和 16 岁时的身体满意度得分显著相关。报告在 15 岁时体育活动行为更高和父亲对体育活动的感知鼓励更高的青少年在 16 岁时的身体满意度得分更高。此外，在控制 BMI 后，青少年在 15 岁时的体育活动行为中介了父亲在 15 岁时对体育活动的感知鼓励与青少年在 16 岁时的身体满意度之间的关联。检验青少年性别对这种关联的调节作用表明，青少年在 15 岁时的体育活动行为不再中介父亲对体育活动的感知鼓励与青少年身体满意度之间的关联，性别调节了这种关联。
这些发现表明，无论青少年的 BMI 如何，父亲可能通过积极影响体育活动行为，在青少年的身体形象满意度方面发挥重要作用。然而，父亲对体育活动的感知鼓励对青少年身体满意度和体育活动行为的影响可能因男孩和女孩而异。
