Routhier-Guilmette Stéfanie, Harandian Kianoush, Turcotte Sophie-Anne, Kazandjian Nairy, Privitera Matteo, Pagani Linda S
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada.
School of Psycho-Education, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada.
Children (Basel). 2025 Jun 3;12(6):732. doi: 10.3390/children12060732.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Early childhood is marked by rapid physical and cognitive development, underscoring the critical influence of parental choices in shaping habits, pastimes, and traditions. The World Health Organization highlights habits of physical activity, sleep, and screen use as modulators of healthy development and well-being in young children. As a first, this birth cohort study investigates the relationship between movement behaviors in toddlerhood and subsequent sport participation during middle childhood.
Participants are 930 boys and 926 girls from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Using a population-based analytical approach, we examined the relationship between parent-reported active leisure, sleep, and sedentary screen time at age 2 years and trajectory of sport participation between ages 6 and 10 years using sex-stratified linear regressions that account for a range of pre-existing individual and family confounding factors.
Many child and family characteristics predicted early childhood movement behaviors, distinctly for boys and girls. Moreover, parental regulation of screen time during early childhood significantly influenced their decisions to enroll and encourage sport participation in sons during school age. Specifically, boys who spent more than 1 h/day on screens had 10% fewer chances of consistently participating in sport throughout middle childhood, even after accounting for adherence to other lifestyle habits.
Our findings suggest that parental values regarding early childhood screen exposure are an effective potential target for intervention fostering healthy and active development. Future research should focus on parent and child motivations for sport involvement in the long-term.
背景/目的：幼儿期以身体和认知的快速发展为特征，这凸显了父母的选择在塑造习惯、消遣和传统方面的关键影响。世界卫生组织强调体育活动、睡眠和屏幕使用习惯是幼儿健康发展和幸福的调节因素。作为首次研究，这项出生队列研究调查了幼儿期运动行为与童年中期后续体育参与之间的关系。
参与者来自魁北克儿童发展纵向研究，共930名男孩和926名女孩。我们采用基于人群的分析方法，使用性别分层线性回归，在考虑一系列已存在的个体和家庭混杂因素的情况下，研究了父母报告的2岁时的积极休闲、睡眠和久坐屏幕时间与6至10岁体育参与轨迹之间的关系。
许多儿童和家庭特征预测了幼儿期的运动行为，男孩和女孩的情况明显不同。此外，幼儿期父母对屏幕时间的管控显著影响了他们在学龄期让儿子参加并鼓励其参与体育活动的决定。具体而言，即使考虑到对其他生活方式习惯的遵守情况，每天花在屏幕上超过1小时的男孩在整个童年中期持续参与体育活动的机会也要少10%。
我们的研究结果表明，父母对幼儿期屏幕接触的价值观是促进健康和积极发展的有效潜在干预目标。未来的研究应关注父母和孩子长期参与体育活动的动机。
