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Background: Parents are central to healthy development in early childhood. Study objectives were to examine the associations between parent and child sedentary behaviour and physical activity in a large representative sample of Canadian 3-5-year-olds, and to determine if associations differed between sons and daughters and mothers and fathers., Data and Methods: Participants were 1,116 children aged 3-5 years and one of their biological parents from cycles 2-5 (2009-2017) of the repeated cross-sectional Canadian Health Measures Survey. Sedentary time, light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) were objectively-measured in both parents and children with Actical accelerometers. Average minutes/day for all valid days, valid weekdays, and valid weekend days (n=935) were calculated. Screen time of both parents and children was parent-reported, and average hours/day were calculated. Pearson correlations and linear regression models with interaction terms were conducted., Results: In the overall sample, all of the parental physical activity and sedentary behaviours were significantly correlated with children's behaviours (r=0.08-0.20). No significant parental or child sex interactions were observed in linear regression models so models were not stratified by parent or child sex. Significant associations with small effect sizes were observed between all of the parental behaviours and children's behaviours. For accelerometer data this was consistent for total days, weekdays, and weekend days., Discussion: Parental sedentary behaviour and physical activity may be intervention targets in early childhood. This appears consistent regardless of the sex of the parent or child. Given the small effect sizes observed, additional intervention targets should also be considered.

Background: Physical inactivity is a global public health concern. The relationship between dependent children in the home and parental physical activity has not been quantified using objective measures, nor has the relative association of the physical activity levels of mothers and fathers been examined. Purpose: To investigate the association of children of different ages in the home on two measures of parental physical activity: daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and likelihood of meeting the guideline of 150 minutes of MVPA per week accumulated in 10-minute bouts. Methods: Data were from the 2007–2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey (n=2315), and analyses were conducted between February and December 2011. MVPA was measured directly using accelerometry. Linear (minutes of MVPA) and logistic (meeting physical activity guidelines) regression models were performed to determine if the presence, number of children, or the age of the youngest child at home was associated with parental physical activity. All models were adjusted for parental age, marital status, household income, employment, and BMI. Results: Mothers whose youngest child was aged <6 years and fathers whose youngest was aged 6–11 years engaged in fewer minutes of daily MVPA than those without dependent children. Linear regression results identified that in comparison to those without children, women whose youngest child in the home was aged <6 years participated in 7.7 minutes less activity per day (p=0.007) whereas men engaged in 5.7 fewer minutes per day, or 54 and 40 minutes per week less, respectively. Similarly, logistic regression analyses indicated that both women and men were less likely to meet guidelines if their youngest child in the home was aged <6 years (OR=0.31, 95% CI=0.11, 0.87; OR=0.34, 95% CI=0.13, 0.93). Conclusions: The physical activity level of parents with young children present in the home was lower than that of those without children. Given the many physiologic, psychological, and social benefits of healthy active living, research efforts should continue to focus on strategies to encourage parents with young children to establish or re-engage in a physically active lifestyle, not only for their own health but to model healthy behavior for the next generation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]