Parental influence on children’s motor competence for active play: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Although active play contributes to children’s physical activity (PA) levels, the parental influences on the development of motor competence for active play are unknown. Therefore, this study analysed whether parental influences predicted their child’s motor competence for active play. Data from the InFANT cohort study, collected at ages 5 and 9.5 years, included 199 parent–child pairs. Parents self-reported on their parenting efficacy (α = 0.76), facilitation (α = 0.74) and attitude (α = 0.58) towards children’s PA at age 5. At 9.5 years, parents proxy-reported their child’s motor competence for active play. Separate and multivariate regression models tested the three parenting constructs as predictors of motor competence for active play, adjusted for covariates (child sex, socioeconomic position, child’s 5-year motor competence). Parental efficacy (β = 0.25), facilitation (β = 0.29) and attitude (β = 0.25) each served as significant predictors of motor competence for active play in the separate models. In the multivariate model, parental facilitation (β = 0.20, p < 0.01) dominated the predictive power for children’s motor competence for active play; attitude (β = 0.17, p = 0.03) still had a significant effect but not efficacy (β = 0.13, p = 0.15). The findings highlight the importance of targeting parents in promoting children’s development of motor competence, with a focus on effective facilitation of physically active lifestyles in unstructured activity contexts.