Parental Social Support and the Physical Activity-Related Behaviors of Youth: A Review

• Published in: Health Education & Behavior Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 621 - 644
• Main Authors: Beets, Michael W., Cardinal, Bradley J., Alderman, Brandon L.
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2010; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Categories; Correlation; Exercise; Falling; Family Relations; Fees; Fees & charges; General aspects; Health Behavior; Humans; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Parent Child Relationship; Parents; Parents & parenting; Payments; Physical Activities; Physical activity; Praise; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Purchasing; Self Concept; Sex Factors; Social interactions; Social Support; Social Support Groups; Systematic review; Transportation; Young people; Youth; social support; health behavior; childhood; family; adolescents; Human; Physical exercise; Family study; Review; Health education; Adolescent; Family environment; Child; Bibliographic review; Public health; Social support
• ISSN: 1090-1981; 1552-6127
• DOI: 10.1177/1090198110363884

Social support from parents serves as one of the primary influences of youth physical activity-related behaviors. A systematic review was conducted on the relationship of parental social support to the physical activity-related behaviors of youth. Four categories of social support were identified, falling under two distinct mechanisms—tangible and intangible. Tangible social support is divided into two categories: instrumental—purchasing equipment/payment of fees and transportation—and conditional—doing activity with and watching/supervision. Intangible social support is divided into the two categories of motivational—encouragement and praise—and informational—discussing benefits of. The majority of studies demonstrated positive associations among selected measures of parental tangible and intangible social support and youth activity. Overall, parental social support demonstrated positive effects. Many studies, however, combine social support categories and/or respondents into composite measures, making it difficult to disentangle the specific effects of parents and the type of support provided.