Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Department of Teacher Education, NLA University College, Bergen, Norway.
PLoS One. 2024 Apr 17;19(4):e0300188. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300188. eCollection 2024.
The family has been acknowledged as central to developing physical activity (PA) beliefs and behaviours. However, increased diversity in family structures has developed over the last decades. This study examines the association between family structure and PA among adolescents and cross-national variations in the associations.
The data are from the 2013/14 Health Behaviours in School-Aged Children study, involving nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds (n = 211,798) from 40 countries. Multilevel Poisson regression analysis was used to examine the associations between family structure and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) by age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and geographic region.
Living with one versus two parents was associated with a reduced likelihood of daily 60 min MVPA for boys (IRR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.92, 0.99) and ≥ 4 times/week VPA (IRR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91, 0.95). This impact on MVPA differed across individual-level SES (high SES; IRR = 0.92, (p <0.05), low SES; IRR = 1.04, (ns)), and was for VPA only significant for those with siblings (IRR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.91, 0.96). Cross-country variations in the association between living with one versus two parents were observed, most pronounced for VPA. These differences varied by region, primarily explained by country-level SES differences between regions. The likelihood of daily 60 min MVPA also increased with siblings in the main house (IRR 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.14), and ≥ 4 times/week VPA decreased with grandparents in the main house (IRR 0.91, 95% CI: 0.89,0.94).
Family structure correlated with PA, but cross-country differences exist. The findings are relevant for the development of policies and programs to facilitate PA, especially in countries where living with one versus two parents was unfavourable. Additional country-specific research is needed to identify challenges for engaging in PA related to family structure.
家庭被认为是培养身体活动（PA）信念和行为的核心。然而，在过去几十年中，家庭结构的多样性不断增加。本研究调查了家庭结构与青少年身体活动之间的关联，并考察了关联在不同国家的差异。
本研究的数据来自于 2013/14 年“儿童健康行为”研究，涉及来自 40 个国家的具有代表性的 11 岁、13 岁和 15 岁青少年（n=211798）的全国性样本。采用多水平泊松回归分析方法，按年龄、性别、社会经济地位（SES）和地理区域，检验家庭结构与中等到剧烈体力活动（MVPA）和剧烈体力活动（VPA）之间的关系。
与父母双方共同居住相比，男孩日常 60 分钟 MVPA（IRR=0.96，95%CI：0.92，0.99）和每周≥4 次 VPA（IRR=0.93，95%CI：0.91，0.95）的可能性降低。这种对 MVPA 的影响因个体 SES 水平而异（高 SES；IRR=0.92，（p<0.05），低 SES；IRR=1.04，（ns）），而对于 VPA，只有与兄弟姐妹同住时才具有显著意义（IRR=0.93，95%CI：0.91，0.96）。还观察到了与父母一方共同居住与父母双方共同居住之间的关联在不同国家之间存在差异，在 VPA 方面差异最为显著。这些差异主要由区域间国家 SES 差异引起，因地区而异。与兄弟姐妹同住也会增加日常 60 分钟 MVPA 的可能性（IRR=1.11，95%CI：1.07，1.14），而与祖父母同住会降低每周≥4 次 VPA 的可能性（IRR=0.91，95%CI：0.89，0.94）。
家庭结构与 PA 相关，但存在国家间差异。这些发现对于制定促进 PA 的政策和计划具有重要意义，特别是在父母一方与双方共同居住对 PA 不利的国家。需要开展更多的特定国家研究，以确定与家庭结构相关的参与 PA 的挑战。
